Of Demonic Mutation
by Stone Shield
Summary: Naruto comes to the Marvel Universe as a result of a fubar in the extraction process by Akatsuki.  Naruto and potentially multiple girls.
1. I'll See Myself Out

Of Demonic Mutation

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Marvel's X-Men.  
Speaking Normally  
_Thoughts_  
Demonic Voice

AN/ Re-Edited a small part, and added breaks.

Chapter 1 - I'll See Myself Out

The landscape was beautiful, grass waving in the wind and tree branches whistling. Not many people truly recognized the significance of the last twenty-four hours. And those that did had no idea that what was about to change would change everything. An explosion high above the ground sent out shockwaves, flattening the grass and even knocking over several trees in its radius. From the concentrated ball of flames erupted a fiery streak shooting at the ground at insane speed, and it screamed.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" followed by a giant "THUNK!" sound as it impacted the theoretically soft and yielding ground.

There was no splendid crater, only a singed imprint where the fallen object impacted. Besides being several feet deep, indicative of a high velocity impact, it was shaped like a human. "Uuuuunnghhhh," came the moan from the occupant of the man-shaped hole as a hand reached up and out before shakily pulling its owner out of said crevasse. Rising from the hole was a dirt encrusted, and still slightly smoking blonde young man. Standing upright, and ignoring the pain-filled cracking sounds of his back, his only thoughts were, "_Oh, fuck me!_" he mentally moaned in pain. He hadn't felt so bad since Gamabunta had used his pipe to nail him into the ground like a railroad spike. Cracking his neck, he rolled his shoulders, stretching the abused muscles and tendons of his body.

This was really confusing. His last memory was…Madara, facing the enslaved Jinchuuriki, the names…the removal. He shivered as he recalled the pain of Kurama's youki being ripped from him. The pain…Kami, nothing had ever compared to that kind of pain, nothing. But then, right as it had begun something had happened…Kurama.

Only recently he had wrested control of her youki away from her, fully realizing his potential as a jinchuuriki, leaving her as little more than an annoying voice in his thoughts even winning her trust and working with her. But they'd still been captured, in a sense.

His head tilted to the side as something was definitely off. His body, something didn't feel quite right. He couldn't in any way sense Kyubi. Not even she could hide her presence this well. It was as if, no, she just wasn't in him anymore. Words drifted through his mind. "_Dumbass kit,_" but with the oddest tone. And then the world around him had exploded in the raw power of the Kyubi, leaving him…here?

"I wonder," he mused before channeling a fraction of the Demon's chakra. He nearly fell to his knees as the attempt brought him to two tails. Something really was wrong. Never had drawing on the youki been this easy. Kyubi…she was gone, her personality, her consciousness. But her power…he flexed his fist. Her power remained in him. This could be freakin' sweet or just another kick to the nuts. Heck, once the whole power struggle had ended between them, they'd actually had a rather amicable relationship.

Though she still hated his guts for the simple matter of containing her.

But where was he? These were not the Elemental Countries, or any place he could recognize, that was plainly obvious. Panicking, he stretched out his senses, barely remembering to tone them down lest their new enhancements blow up his brain with information overload. Even Sage mode felt slightly off. His eyes, closed, shot open as he realized what he was sensing. Red rimmed eyes were wide as he came to a conclusion. "Chakra…There's no chakra, anywhere!" He was interrupted as his enhanced hearing picked up a loud blaring approaching in the distance. "I'm in some weirdo new world…I'd say that's enough reason to run like a little bitch," and he was gone.

'_With my luck, everyone here's a cannibal. Or worse…_' He gulped. '_What if they don't have ramen here?_' He shuddered fearfully at that last thought. It was too scary to even consider.

Running for miles, he stopped on the edge of what looked like a small town. His eyes bulged at the architecture, having never seen anything like it before. From his position on the roof he looked down at all the passersby. Massive metal objects rolled down the streets, fascinating him. The hairs on the back of his neck tingled as he sensed an incoming energy signature. It wasn't chakra, but as much as he wanted to run, he needed answers to the plethora of questions running through his mind, so he stayed. Before him erupted a swirl of smoke, and out of said smoke walked a tall man in a red cape.

* * *

It had taken nearly fifteen minutes before the man known as Doctor Strange had managed to make him both vocal and literate in English, at least enough to make him adequately versed for a conversation. Even if his brain still felt like a fried egg afterward. And then he had told the man everything in hopes that he could get him home. Unfortunately, this time Lady Luck was throwing snake eyes as the man said he could not.

And after this oh so busy day, he had a feeling it was about to get even busier as he followed the 'Sorcerer Supreme' down the road. He'd done some kind of reverse summoning and brought them to some other place that he called 'New York'. But for some reason they were walking the last bit of distance.

"So why do I have to stay here?"

Strange looked back at the young man and had to repress the urge to smile. There was something about the boy, something that brought out the best in people. "There are two races on this world. Those that are normal, having no special abilities, and there are mutants, humans who have evolved to the level where they gained special powers", answered Strange, not even breaking his stride.

"Like bloodline abilities?" asked the curious blonde.

"Yes, like the bloodline abilities from your home. Mutants were treated in similar fashion to how you say you were treated, though not to that extreme level. Some the government attempted to control…or destroy." Naruto stiffened at that last bit. He'd hoped such shortsightedness would have been left from where he'd come, but no such luck. Strange continued his explanation. "Recently though, things have changed. Due to a…failing on my part, the mutant population, once in the millions has dropped to mere hundreds, as mutants the world over lost their abilities."

"You mean the thing that let me come here?" he asked, remembering something the man had said earlier.

Strange glanced at his young companion. "Indeed. This place is a school. At one time it was a training ground for mutants to learn to control their abilities, but with so few mutants left, it is now a haven for those that remain."

Naruto blinked at all the information he'd just received. "Then why am I here?"

"Can you not guess?"

"Well…not really. I'm not even from this world. I'm not a normal human or a mutant," the blonde said with a shrug. "Am I?"

Strange stopped before placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, signaling him to stop as well. They were not too different in height but he still had to look down to meet the blonde's eyes. "I am not sure. But I believe you may simply be from an alternate reality or another dimension, where humans gained these odd abilities. It is quite possible that you, as well the people in your world are simply advanced humans, possibly even mutants. You though, are something entirely new." Raising his hand, a glow encompassing it, he extended it to the blonde, palm facing him. Slightly glassy-eyed, "Your body has been altered by the presence of demonic energy, mutating you. So if you weren't a mutant before, there is the possibility you are one now."

Wide-eyed, he did his best to process all that. "Umm, that is…huh," he finally managed to say, stammering.

Quirking an eyebrow, "My sentiments exactly," added Strange as he continued walking. "You're taking this all rather well," he remarked offhandedly.

Naruto ducked his head, "Yeah, well, like I said, things back home weren't the best for me…especially if I wanted to live. And well, here I am so I may as well make the best of-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!" They'd reached the clearing the mansion rested in and leaving the trees, the "sentries" around the school came into sight.

Strange could see why the towering Sentinel robots were a shock. The metal titans were surprising even to those that had seen them before. Quickly, he explained to the young man the purpose of the man operated giants. That they were responsible for 'keeping the peace' so to speak. "…" Naruto was speechless and utterly flabbergasted. He was mostly intimidated seeing as the foot on one of the massive metal giants could squash him flat. He was, in fact, at that moment, imagining that very metal foot driving him into the ground.

Feeling like the soulless eyes of the Sentinels were drilling into his head, he continued walking with Strange until they reached the front door. However, as Strange raised his hand to knock lightly on the door, it opened before he could.

The door opened to reveal a woman with a rather fatigued look to her demeanor. "Stephen."

"Emma."

Glancing with mild interest over the young man next to him, hardly seeming to react to his dirt and blood encrusted self, "Please, come in."

* * *

As she led them down the hall towards her office, they passed several students. Ignoring the looks he received from the other teens, and trying not to notice the massive one composed of stone, he voiced the question that had been sticking in his mind like a splinter. "Umm, Miss-"

"Frost, Emma Frost," she prompted, opening a door and ushering them in.

"Okay, Miss Frost, how did you know we were at the door? I didn't see anyone at the windows."

"Yes, well, I'm psychic. The moment you two arrived on the grounds I was able to sense your minds," she answered, moving to the chair and sitting behind the massive desk.

Stunned, and gawking openly, Naruto's eyes widened drastically, surprise shining in them before clouding over. Eyes now narrowed, "Wait, you read my mind, didn't you? While we were walking down the road?" It was more a statement than a question. He had felt an odd tickling that he couldn't explain, but now he understood.

She'd been peeking.

She looked at him with a thoughtful sparkle in her eyes. "I did, yes," she responded, her slow answer piquing Strange's interest as well.

"And?" the Sorcerer asked.

Crossing her arms she seemed to almost be looking through him. "I tried to be subtle, only looking at his recent memories. He should be proud, his mind is fairly strong. Though I was being gentle about it."

Meanwhile, while the two made idle chitchat Naruto seethed in silence, both for her reading his mind without permission, and for being spoken of like he wasn't even there. "You know I'm still here," he growled in annoyance, his left eyebrow twitching.

"So who is this?" she asked and the pair continued to ignore the irate blonde.

* * *

Elsewhere:

"Hey guys, new recruit today." Multiple heads turned to look at the rock mutant. "What do you mean?" asked a redhead with silver skin.

"Miss Frost took some blonde kid and a guy in a cape to her office." All present digested this news. "He looked pretty fucked up, too. Looked like he'd been stomped on by one o' the Sentinels."

"I wonder who he'll be replacing?" mused Julian thoughtfully, earning several glares and even a look of outrage from Noriko.

"Shut up, Kellar!" she shot back darkly.

"Please not now, Julian," added Cessily, her silver arms pulling her knees to her chest.

"Hey, I'm just sayin' what everyone's thinking." And it was true. With teams losing members due to their loss of powers, there were slots to be filled. And the idea of this new guy possibly 'replacing' people that were their friends left a certain bitterness to their thoughts.

"Better not be on my team," Noriko grumbled crossly, several others thinking the same.

"Perhaps he should be given a chance first," suggested Sooraya, her hands clasped beneath the folds of her robe. As rational as her statement was, no one responded, lost in their own thoughts.

* * *

Back With Naruto:

"So this boy's people all had a base mutation? Hank will have a field day over this," she asked, whispering the last part.

"From what little he has mentioned, yes, but what I'm trying to get across is the fact that his body has been further changed, mutated by demonic presence," Strange insisted.

Emma nodded, "Yes, I'm still not sure I understand that."

Naruto slapped his hand over his face. Sighing, "The Demon's power, sealed within him, has been fully absorbed into his body, altering his genetics even further. He is…an oddity."

"'He' is still in the room," Naruto reminded, loosing a mild growl in the back of his throat.

"We haven't forgotten," she answered back lazily.

"He knows nothing of this world, and with his abilities, the ones he has and the ones he will have, this school is the best place for him."

"Yes, his abilities. What are they anyway?" she asked, intrigued, and turned to Naruto.

His face scrunched in concentration as he tried to remember a topic of a lesson from the past. What'd Jiraiya call it? "Energy…energy manipulation? Yeah, that's it!" During their three year trip, the uber pervert, Kami rest his soul, had taught him from the ground up, covering any and all bases.

"Energy manipulation?" Emma repeated.

"Yeah. Back home we call it chakra. But it's gone by other names too, like life energy."

It was an interesting idea, Emma couldn't deny it. There were mutants with abilities like he described. They could release energy from their bodies, like telekinetics to name a few. Though she would have to ask Strange to fill in the blanks later. "And you use this…energy…to do what?" she asked.

"It can be focused to parts of the body to increase strength, speed, stuff like that. Then um, well, hm, we use hand signs to regulate and focus our energy, and then use techniques." Inwardly, he thanked Iruka for beating chakra theory into him. Before now, he'd never thought it would come in handy. He demonstrated by making a Shadow Clone, ending up making thirty-seven and severely crowding the room. Figures, absorbing Kyubi's youkai had screwed over his control, again. Dismissing his clones he raised his hand and began focusing his chakra. If he was really lucky his experience with the technique would make up for the wavering control. It took a bit more effort than usual, but in a few seconds a glowing, spinning blue ball of energy formed in his palm. "This is chakra," he said simply, and let the Rasengan fade.

Emma's eyes widened subtly as she watched his demonstrations, and then even further when he'd made that ball thing. Such an ability did seem reminiscent of telekinetics, but the level of control he already had compared to most with similar abilities was astounding. She sighed before leaning forward, arms flat on her desk. "Before I can allow you to attend, young man, I need to see your thoughts. I need to be certain that you are not a threat to my students."

As insulting as those words felt, he could understand. A kage would do the same thing if it meant protecting his, or her, people. "All right," he finally replied, giving in. But he was on edge. This 'psychic' stuff reminded him far too much of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

His vision faded as he retreated to his mindscape.

* * *

Almost as soon as he'd gotten there, the blonde headmistress appeared. "You have a surprising level of control over your mindscape for someone so young," she commented, looking over the grassy plain he'd created so long ago.

"I'll take that as a compliment," he replied curtly before changing the layout to a long hallway full of doors. Offhand, she noticed that no longer was he dirtied and covered in blood. Now he stood clean and tall before her. She couldn't help but admit that he was quite handsome. He had a tall, lean build with nicely tanned skin. Oddly, unlike the near invisible trio of scars bore on either cheek of his physical body, this one's scars were a degree darker and more pronounced. His formerly matted hair now hung in clean, golden spikes.

Looking around her, she immediately strode over to the nearest door. In a blur, a hand caught her by the wrist of her outstretched arm, stopping her. Locking eyes with the one who'd stopped her, she waited for an answer. Finally, releasing his grip, he spoke up. "I'll only warn you once. I'm willing to let you roam my memories, but this is my mind. Any subterfuge and I'll know," he spoke in a deathly whisper.

"You're not very trusting."

He smiled grimly, "I've had better weeks. So I'm sorry if I seem a little on edge." Assimilating what he said she again faced the door. Reaching for the knob, she looked back, only to receive a nod of consent before opening it.

She was amazed by all she saw. Distant lands in a completely different world. People from ordinary to extraordinary, both good and bad. She saw those who'd cared for the young man and that he had in turn cared for. Unfortunately, they were a paltry few compared to everyone else. There were those who had hunted him, Akatsuki and Orochimaru. She saw how poorly he'd been treated and his tireless personal mission to prove himself. She saw how his entire village had sold him out. And finally, she saw Kyubi, in all her glory, and how she saved him. Motivated by spite for their captors, as well as a smidgen of respect for him, she'd used her power to send him to this world, if a little 'different'. All in all it was an amazing life story, if a little sad.

When she was done, she found herself back on that same grassy plain. "Are you finished?" Searching for the owner of the voice, she found the blonde lying down in the grass, eyes closed and arms supporting his head. "Well?"

Crossing her arms and glaring, mildly, back at him, "I am."

"And?"

"Honestly, I'm surprised you're sane."

"Join the club," he agreed, his voice holding a hint of amusement.

* * *

"Well…that was…interesting," murmured Emma as she leaned back into her chair.

"And what do you say, Emma?" asked Strange, as he'd waited there for her to finish for her to finish for over four minutes.

Emma sighed, "…He is welcome to stay."

Strange nodded before standing. "Then I shall take my leave. I may check in on young Naruto's development. Until then, I wish you the best, both of you," and with a short bow of his head, the tall man disappeared in a swirl of smoke.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, finally, first clearing her throat, "Let's get you settled in. I would like to make you an offer though."

* * *

Naruto sighed contentedly as he left the shower. He felt like he'd shed several pounds of dirt, sweat, grime, and dried blood. His thoughts focused on Miss Frost's offer. Since he had no clothes or anything, the school would help him out. In exchange, he would act as an assistant to someone named Logan in a self-defense class. For now, while his only clothes were being washed he was given a pair of school issued sweats and a t-shirt. She said that he would be taken into town the following day to pick up clothes for him, but he would have to stay as is for today. He was put up in a small room, not that the size mattered. His old apartment was barely big enough for the broken bed he'd put in it. Miss Frost had also mentioned that once the now powerless students left he would be assigned to a room with another student. That would be fun; taking the place of someone who had most likely been a friend to the current roommate. He was to wait until she set up a class schedule for him, and that he should expect to be given a physical anytime from that afternoon to the next day. He wasn't looking forward to that either.

Now cleaned and thoroughly dry, he replaced his necklace back where it belonged around his neck. It was just one more curiosity, the necklace. It had been around his neck when he dug himself out of his Naruto-shaped hole, and he had absolutely no idea as to the how or the why. Nor, the what. Taking a moment, he fingered one of the blood red magatama. It would never replace the Shodaime's necklace, long since destroyed, but there was just something about it. It felt strange, yet familiar under his fingertips.

Hell if he understood any of it.

Probably never would.

Shelving the unanswered questions for now, he stepped over to the bed and sat down to read the books he'd been given. For a moment, his eyes settled on the battered and broken pieces of the forehead protector that had managed to come with him, now resting on the small bedside table. Not wanting his memories to turn dark his eyes shifted back to the pages before him.

To his surprise, and immediate discomfort, he hadn't been reading for more than half an hour when someone knocked on the door. Someone big and covered in blue fur. Dr. Hank McCoy, as he'd introduced himself, had come to take him to the medical bay where he would give him his physical. During the exam though, he came to realize that he wasn't just there to administer the physical but to ask all the questions he could about him, his people, and his world to satisfy his own hunger for knowledge.

Flashback

_"Simply amazing," the furry man murmured in awe as he went over the results, pages flying on the clipboard. Looking at the boy as he continued through a full-body exam, "You're at the peak of physical condition, my boy." Naruto shrugged, not really knowing what to say to that, though he did feel a little proud. Hank was intrigued by it all. His body temperature was a few degrees higher than the norm, but that could be easily explained by the astonishing metabolism his body was host to. Even when he'd had him run on a treadmill to test his heart rate and breathing, he'd found the results just as astounding. Running at what many would assume to be full tilt, his heart rate and breathing were fairly steady. He was broken from his analysis by the machine's incessant beeping. He was annoyed at first at being taken away from his notes, but that was gone when he saw the results of the scan._

_"Mr. Uzumaki, did you know you have a tertiary circulatory system?"_

_"Hunh?" Naruto asked, really confused. Too many big words in one sentence equals a dumbfounded Naruto._

_Hank brought up a projection. "Look here. It flows through the entire body like blood vessels, but at a far greater level of interconnectivity." But Naruto wasn't really listening. The display of the lines going through his body looked…familiar. Something from long ago… "Oh," he muttered in realization. "I know what that is."_

_Hank swiveled back around, waiting eagerly for an explanation._

_"That's my chakra system."_

_For once, Hank was at a loss. He had no idea what the boy was referring to. "Could you elaborate?"_

_After hours of explanations of chakra, jutsus, and youki, the man's questions and curiosity never ebbed. He seemed very interested in his ability to heal, even proposing the possibility of him healing others. Other than that, it went like any other physical that Tsunade or Shizune had given him, though admittedly the technology here was a great deal more advanced._

_"If my readings are accurate, which they undoubtedly are, the 'chakra' your body produces is not as a result of mutation. At least, not as a result of the X gene."_

_"Hunh?"_

_"Your chakra network, as you call it may have once been a mutation for your people, but from what you've told me it is a normal physiological occurrence."_

_"…"_

_Seeing the blonde starting to zone out. "Your mutation, my boy, lies not in your fascinating energy." Seriously, did this guy come with a translator? "However, your altered x gene does show signs of overactive adaptive capabilities."_

_"…" Subtitles? Did any and all gods just like making him feel like a dumbass?_

_"Progressive adaptation. Simply put, your body adapts itself to stress by strengthening itself. The tertiary effects spread outward from just the physical and into other aspects. Your senses, reaction speeds, and so on."_

_Okay, he understood a little of that._

_Really._

Flashback End

By the time it was over it was getting quite dark, not that he could see that so many meters below ground level, and his growling stomach notified him that it would go on strike if it remained empty any longer. McCoy had given him instructions to the cafeteria for the evening's meal, and his stomach led the charge.

"…_This is uncomfortable_," he thought with a hint of mild amusement at feeling the looks of curiosity, confusion, and even animosity from the other students. Not that he blamed them. He and Sakura had treated Sai the same way, at first. "_Ah, to be the new guy_," he mentally chuckled at how easy some of them were to read, and decided to take his meal outside rather than to eat at a table by himself.

Absently, he thought of how the way some of the students looked should have surprised him. Hell, he hadn't been the least bit shocked by Dr. McCoy, and the man looked like a big blue man-tiger. Then again, with everything he'd seen, something like stone boy over there or silver girl weren't too out of the ordinary, barely rating a four-point-o on his Weird-Shit-O-Meter. Especially since 'ordinary' had never been a part of his life. This strangeness was just par for the course that was his life. Once out the door, he looked for a spot where he could eat in peace. Fortunately, he found said spot…fourteen meters up on the crested roof of the school. Leaning against the shingles, he looked thoughtfully to the stars as he ate.

* * *

With the Hellions and New Mutants:

"That's the new kid?" Julian snorted in suppressed laughter. "I'm not impressed."

David, while powerless, was still the smartest at the table. He knew it was never a good idea to underestimate someone. And he had the oddest feeling that the blonde was someone who shouldn't be underestimated.

"Why's he in school uniform?" questioned Santo as he shoveled food into his rocky maw. "I mean, sure he's a student but why's he wearin' sweats and a t-shirt?" he amended.

"Who knows," answered Brian as he idly played with his spaghetti. His mind remained on his up and coming egress from the school, and the friends he would be leaving behind.

"Who cares," Noriko grunted in addition. Her gloves crackled as electricity arced between her fingers, a sure sign that she was less than happy.

Swallowing, Santo asked the question that everyone wondered about. "Wonder what he can do?"

"Can we talk about something else? Anything else," suggested Noriko.

Sitting next to her, David placed a hand on her shoulder in attempt to comfort her. It seemed to work as she looked less wound up. The others at the table of mismatched team members, Cessily, Jay, and Kevin were quiet. Sofia hadn't left her room the whole afternoon and her absence had made Julian testy, more so than usual. Soorayah would have said something rational about how it was wrong to alienate him, but she always ate alone and wasn't there.

After a short time though, Soorayah rejoined them. Sitting on her team's side of the table, "I believe I have seen the new student."

"Yeah, he came through here maybe ten minutes ago," Julian mumbled, showing just how much he didn't care.

"Where'd you see him?" asked David.

Soorayah paused thoughtfully before answering. "He was on the roof, eating," she supplied.

"_Good spot_," thought Jay, appreciatively.

Looking around the table, "Then I take it no one has approached him yet?" she asked. The silence, deafening as it was, was answer enough.

* * *

Meanwhile, while most of the campus residents were eating, Logan was giving Emma a piece of his mind. "Dammit, I don't need some kid 'assisting' me."

Emma sighed tiredly. "He has a great deal of fighting experience, Logan, as I've been telling you. And he isn't the type of person to accept the school's charity. He needs clothes and books, and since he knows so much about various fighting styles, I figured a trade of sorts might work."

Logan ground his teeth in annoyance. "Yeah, well, if he doesn't meet my expectations, you've gotta find another job for 'im."

"…Fine," Emma sighed defeatedly once he'd left. Of all the X-Men, Logan by far was one of the most stubborn. Even Scott had understood the boy's situation.

* * *

"KNOCK, KNOCK!"

"Huh? Wuzzat?" he groaned. The sound of loud, demanding knocks on the door waking him. Staggering to the door, "Yes?"

"Open up, kid," someone insisted from the other side. Opening the door, he came face to face with an older man of about the same height, with crazy hair. And something about him screamed "I can kick your ass." Looking him over, "Get dressed, kid. I'm gonna see if you can handle bein' my assistant," he growled.

Formerly sleep-clouded eyes widened in understanding, now fully awake. "You're Logan?"

"Get dressed, kid."

Closing the door, he pulled on his now clean clothes. Amazingly, even the oldest blood stains were gone, but he'd been up for over an hour stitching the cuts and holes. Pulling his shirt over his head and sliding into his boots, he moved back to the door. Though it had only been a minute, barely, 'Logan' waited testily by the door. Without a word, he walked away, Naruto, understanding, in tow.

* * *

He had to admit, this was…damn. This was the best training room he'd ever seen. Around the walls were pieces of equipment that seemed to be built for super strong individuals, with a running track between them and the wall. And in the center was a fair sized training mat, which seemed to be their destination. Stopping in the middle of the mat, Logan turned to face the blonde, analyzing him. He wasn't acting threatening, yet the teen was like a coiled spring while appearing calm. And by how he held himself, he had been in some fights. Emma had forced him to read his file. It said he'd been trained as a ninja. Heightened senses, increased healing, endurance, and something called energy manipulation, but it was the first two that hit closest two home.

Clearing his throat, "All right, kid, the lady upstairs says you can handle bein' my assistant. You know, teachin' classes, that kinda stuff. But she's not a fighter. I want ta see for myself if you have what it takes." Taking all this in silence, Naruto stood there, if feeling a little tense. "I want you to fight me so I can gauge your skills. And even if you manage to lay a hit on me, I can heal any wound. So don't piss yourself about holding back. Now that that's out of the way…Let's see what you can do." Naruto's only response was a growing grin, revealing his larger than normal canines.

* * *

Thirty-seven minutes later said blonde was on his back, a foot on his throat. "Not bad. You're pretty good, kid, but I've got something you don't. Years of experience." Inwardly he was amazed. The kid's stamina and energy were on a level that even he couldn't match. And his healing… No matter how many times he was knocked down he got right back up. Hell, he'd even broken the blonde's leg…twice, along with his right arm. He had a Hell of a pain threshold, that was for sure, but like any seasoned fighter it was his eyes that said the most. They glowed in defiance, not arrogance, but the simple quality of spitting in the face of Death. Smirking, he removed his foot and offered the kid his hand. Pulling him to his feet, "Y'know, you surprised me, kid."

"Naruto."

"Whatever. Most people would 'a called a foul on the blades."

"In a real fight there are no rules, you just have to stay alive," Naruto rationalized.

"Heheh, you got that right. I guess you'll do for an assistant," he complimented before dropping the hammer. "Oh, and you should go. Breakfast is in ten minutes," he added with an evil grin. Momentarily stiffening, the blonde was gone, dashing out the doors, Leaving Logan to laugh at his joke.

* * *

"_Why are all teachers so…evil?_" he wondered, zooming down the hall. Skipping the stairs, he chose to vertically jump from handrail to handrail, floor to floor, rolling over the rail of the third floor. Damnit, he had to shower and change, and eat, before classes, according to the schedule he'd found on his bed last night after dinner. Unfortunately, rushing as he was, he nearly flattened several students. "_Yes, almost there!_" he mentally cheered. That is until a door opened.

He threw on the brakes to prevent himself from crashing into her. Skidding the final foot and a half, he finally managed to stop, but now he was face to face with a very pretty redhead with silver skin, their noses very nearly touching. For that one moment all either could see was the other's eyes. One pair a deep blue and the other a shining pupil-less silver.

"Uh, erm, sorry," he said, his tanned cheeks reddening. Then he remembered. "Damnit. Late," he muttered as he rotated around her on his heal, and burst down the hall to his own door, leaving one very surprised Cessily Kincaid.

"Uh, erm, sorry…Damnit. Late," and he was gone. She had to admit, waking up this morning, she hadn't expected anything like that to happen. And wasn't that the same blonde that was new to the school? Shaking her head, she continued on to the cafeteria. If only the warm blue of his eyes was as easy to shake off.


	2. Just Settling In

Of Demonic Mutation

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Marvel's X-Men.  
Speaking Normally  
_Thoughts_  
**Demonic Voice**

* * *

Chapter 2 - Just Settling In

He was a blur as he rinsed off, dried, and dressed. "I need to get some real clothes," he groaned. Sweatpants were definitely not his favorite. In less than five minutes after getting back to his room, the door slammed closed behind him as he left.

"_Damn that man_," he mentally cursed. He had barely had enough time to eat before classes started. He thought of sending a clone but the lady in charge, Miss Frost, had expressly told him not to. She would, however, allow his clone to attend a missed class if he was teaching with Logan. Which led him back to his current thoughts, cursing the man, using words that would have put one Konoha Special Jonin to shame. He was still relatively alone as not many students interacted with him.

Though the classes were fairly interesting. In Konoha, they'd been taught specific ideas from the subjects. Not here. It was all taught, and some of it was fascinating, even if it wasn't useful in a fight. He was currently taking back to back English classes to strengthen his language skills. In each class, he introduced himself, but only went so far as to say his name.

Few people had warmed up to him, but he had long ago developed a psychological block against that sort of behavior towards him. The people who were more open to him were the more laid back members of the classes. A green, almost lizard-like boy named Victor was one, the other, a teen boy his own age called Jay, who had wings…wings! That had taken a moment to get over. Welcoming their conversation, he opened up more to them. Victor reminded him of himself years prior, treating things like a joke, and Jay seemed to be a mix of protector and pacifist. And during lunch, the winged teen had introduced him to his friend Laurie, bedridden in the med bay. He felt worried for her the moment he saw her arm though. It had been absolutely desiccated. She was a really nice girl; she was by far the friendliest person he'd met so far. It felt nice though, talking to people for the people for the first time in over a day.

He soon found out that afternoons were most often reserved for practical application courses; classes where they learned to utilize their powers and hone their skills. Today, they were supposed to have combat training with Logan, but he had left on personal business. As such, the less than thirty students, counting him, were put through a strength evaluation by a man everyone referred to as "Mr. Summers." The name was vaguely familiar. He recalled the girl, Laurie, mentioning there was a headmaster alongside Miss Frost and by her account, this was him.

* * *

That afternoon, students returned to their rooms to change for the physical combat training class that 'Mr. Summers' was subbing. Pulling on his shinobi gear for the second time that day, he left for the training gym, taking some study material with him. His teacher, Professor Wagner, had suggested some book on poetry and plays to expand his growing English vocabulary. Though it didn't need too much help; last night he'd handed his clone a dictionary from Miss Frost, and after it had dispelled he was fairly proficient through the B's. It wasn't too hard to learn what with the temporary start he'd been given by Strange.

Sitting against the steel wall, he cracked open a book and started to read while he waited. The first to arrive was a man who gave off the feeling of militant rigidness. Still, his tone was kind, if a little strict as he introduced himself. "We'll be doing strength tests today. This will give us an idea of your capabilities," he spoke and Naruto nodded in agreement.

"Makes sense I suppose."

As they waited for the remaining class members, the visored man questioned him about his world, the people, and what they could do. His interest seemed sparked by mentioning from Emma Frost and probably even by Dr. McCoy.

Scott frowned thoughtfully, "Eventually, we'll need to record all these 'techniques' for your record." It made sense, really; the Hokage's files of their ninja had any known techniques listed.

Segueing into less serious conversation, Naruto asked something he'd been curious about since meeting the man. "So, um, what's with the visor, um, sir?" adding a 'sir' as he'd recognized it as a term of respect used for older generations.

"I release energy blasts from my eyes. Unfortunately, I can't turn it off. This visor allows me to see without vaporizing everything in sight," he responded simply, somewhat used to the question.

"Cooooool!" replied the blonde reverently, blue eyes wide in awe.

Scott smiled inwardly, new students always said that. "Ah, here come your classmates," he mentioned, seeing the others starting to file into the room, all clad in their team gear. "All right, everyone gather in the center of the room!" he called out, deciding to begin.

* * *

5 Minutes Earlier:

"I heard Mr. Logan wasn't going to be teaching us today," mused Cessily aloud.

"Then why'd we still gotta go to class?" Santo grumbled.

Julian snorted, "Isn't it obvious. We've got a sub. Wonder who it is…" he said and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"You think the new kid's gonna be there?" asked Santo. To most, the training areas were where you got the best impression of someone. That and a few students were curious as to what the blonde could do, as far as mutations were concerned.

"I just wish we had the Danger Room," groaned Julian piteously. The regular training area was fairly high tech, but the Danger Room…The Danger Room allowed you to experience missions. It was popular opinion that the D.R. was the only way to train. Only the more hardcore students actually enjoyed the less exciting training area, testing their strength and increasing it as well.

"Heheh, I guess you all get to see me at my best," chuckled Santo in his gravelly voice, and flexed his gigantic left rock bicep. Soorayah and Kevin followed silently behind, choosing not to get involved in the conversation. The former having nothing to say, and the latter was lost in thought. Ever since he'd accidentally 'withered' Laurie's arm, he had been filled with anger and self-loathing.

"So boring," groaned Julian as they'd finally reached the training gym's door. It opened automatically with their presence.

"Hey, we got Cyclops today," pointed out Santo as they all noticed the Headmaster across the massive room. The Hellions and New Mutants, minus their depowered or disabled teammates stood to the side as the other remaining students filed in.

"_Who's Mr. Summers talking to?_" Cessily wondered to herself. Seeing only the figure's back, he looked a little familiar, especially in that outfit.

* * *

It was common practice that the students were divided into groups, visiting the training gym or Danger Room at rotating intervals. That was of course when Xavier's was filled with one hundred plus mutant students. Now that their numbers were so low, a paltry twenty-nine, counting the blonde kid, they wee all told to come in one group. Cessily frowned, Laurie was still absent. Which undoubtedly meant that the latest attempts to heal her arm hadn't gone as planned. Her desiccated right arm kept her from joining them. Looking to Kevin out of the corner of her eye, she could tell that the thoughts on his mind were still focused on what he'd done to her arm. Sometimes life could be so cruel. She'd come to terms with her mutation long ago, but still people avoided skin contact with her. And Kevin, he would probably never be able to ever touch another person. At a point, she'd tried to start a relationship with him, her mercury skin unaffected by his death touch, but his mind was always on Laurie. Either way, his stony face radiated discomfort and shame. It hadn't really been his fault. Days ago, when everyone woke up losing their powers, it seemed like a blessing, until he'd found out he was one of the few who'd retained their powers. She could relate. Her heart nearly stopped at the hope of losing her liquid metal skin, only to look in a mirror and see Mercury looking back. But Kevin had found out his powers were still intact through a more traumatizing method. Overjoyed at the thought of being free from his 'curse' he had immediately done what he'd wanted to do for the longest time, touch Laurie. And her arm had withered to nearly nothing.

Her attention was brought back from her thoughts when their substitute's voice clipped through the air, sounding as even and strict as ever. "All right everyone, your attention, please. Since Logan couldn't be here, instead of the Danger Room obstacle course, today we will be testing your strength, speed, endurance, and agility, and see how much it has changed since the last test two weeks ago." The blonde standing next to him had turned around during his announcement. Finally, Cessily remembered why, from a back view, he looked familiar. He was the new student, and the same one who'd very nearly run over her earlier.

Before, in the hall, she'd barely caught a glance of him, outside of seeing his eyes. And any other time he wore academy sweats. Now, he was dressed in a form-fitting grey short sleeved shirt, and navy cargos wrapped at the calves and ankles in bandages. She had to admit, he was one of the most well-built people she'd ever seen. And his face…

His hair was blonde, exceptionally so. It could be described as _the_ definition for sun-kissed. It hung in shaggy spikes all over, looking wild and unkempt yet completely natural. But still, between the bangs shone the same pair of twin cerulean orbs as she'd seen before, glowing with a mischievous warmth and kindness that seemed unreal. And his face and jaw line, seemed almost like it was carved from marble, and were incredibly tan. She shook her head trying to clear her mind. Surely not. There was no way she could have any feelings for some guy she didn't even know. It was impossible…Wasn't it? Even if he seemed to have a body that could kill, that was no basis for personality. During lunch, Jay had mentioned meeting him, saying that he'd taken him with him to see Laurie, minutes prior. He'd said he was a good guy, but she would reserve judgment as Jay tended to be a bit too trusting. What had he said the guys name was? Naru…something.

Mr. Summers had them all run a quick circuit around the room, each of them moving from machine to machine. The new guy, Naruto, Mr. Summers called him, went last. Most were openly surprised at how strong he was; some of them having to build their own strength up on arrival. As the exercises went on his strength was only second or third from the top. The last of the machines was reserved for those with enhanced strength, students like Santo, though Julian sometimes used it to see what he could lift telekinetically.

* * *

"Are we allowed to augment our strength for this one?" the blonde asked the X-Man eagerly.

Cyclops hesitated for a moment. "Are you capable?" Truth was they were still building his file, and Logan hadn't said anything about enhanced strength.

"Sure," the teen replied and walked over to the machine.

All eyes were on the blonde as he made his way to the giant press. It wasn't a secret that even before M-Day, few could use it. And here he was about to try it.

Standing on the platform, "_All right, I'll start with my normal chakra, first,_" he decided, the blue energy flowing through his body.

"Ready?" asked Scott, trying to sound reassuring while allowing for the chance to back out if he wasn't absolutely sure.

Naruto nodded in response. No way he'd back down. He'd made up his mind that he would do it, and that was that. Walking onto the pad, he stood on the outlined target zone.

The weights, divided into two hundred pound increment plates, began lowering, slowly, one at a time. Shaped like massive slabs, the machine measured how much weight you could push up. The first plate bent his straightened arms slightly, but he could handle it. "More, please." He didn't start having problems until the fourth plate. Once the fourth one was added, he'd dropped to his knees under the weight.

"Told ya he wouldn't make eight hundred," snickered Santo, triumphantly collecting the five from Julian.

Cessily shook her head at their behavior. "Men," she sighed in annoyance. Wait…was the room getting warmer? It wasn't much, but it was like a warm breeze. Small, but there nonetheless.

They could all see Mr. Summers was about to step in. From where he crouched under the weight slabs, a light growling could be heard. "_Huh?_" several students wondered. Slowly, the blonde stood back up, bones realigning noisily. Eyelids snapped open revealing a pair of shining blue eyes with slit-like pupils. What many noticed immediately was that they glowed from the shadows of his spiky bangs.

"I can take more," he spoke, his voice deeper, nearing a scratchy growl. "_This feeling_," he thought reminiscently. "_There's the first tail._" He remembered how strong he'd felt, not so long ago, when he'd first wrested the youki away from Kyubi. She'd been pissed as Hell for a while, but he could still sense the tinge of pride in anything she said. She respected strength, simple as that. Until now though, he'd never really had a way to measure the strength he'd gained as a result.

Looking back, losing her youki had really mellowed her out. For what short period of time before everything went to crap.

Meh, no time to bitch.

* * *

Cyclops was slightly surprised by this latest development. The boy, Naruto, practically radiated raw energy now, whereas a moment ago he seemed at his limit. Indeed, the immediate area around him seemed to be increasing in temperature. And several others were thinking along the same lines.

"What the Hell?" gasped Santo.

"Hn, you said it," agreed Julian, eyes narrowed as they watched the weights increased. It wasn't telekinesis. What was it? Shit, he was already lifting sixteen hundred. Cessily, watching more closely, noticed the change in his eyes. She unknowingly shivered at the way they shone out at them.

* * *

"_Wait_…" he wondered. "_Why can't I draw out any more? Why can't I go farther than two tails?_" Once he had stripped the demon of its power, it'd all been at his command. What had changed?

Okay, stupid question.

What was going on? At the six ton mark, breathing shallowly, his knees began to wobble. "That…that's it!" he called, signaling he was at his limit. For the moment. Straightening up, plates lifting and locking, he was met with more than a few stares or looks of awe. At all the attention, he couldn't help but feel a little sheepish.

"_He's the second strongest in the school, only a little more so than Onyxx_," Scott mused. "_The only student stronger is Santo._" Clearing his throat to get everyone's attention, "Okay, five minute cool down, and then laps." There followed a series of groans of annoyance any Nara would have been proud to call their own.

* * *

"Why couldn't I go any higher than two tails?" he muttered to himself. At the second tail, he'd felt like he'd hit a wall. God, this was so frustrating.

"Hey, Naruto!"

"Hmm?" Momentarily forgetting his conundrum, he saw Jay coming over with a fair-sized group. "Jay," he acknowledged with a friendly smile. Some of the others in the group looked a little reluctant, but he could work with that.

"Naruto, meet the Hellions and the New Mutants."

"Hellions? New Mutants?"

The other teen realized his mistake. "Oh, sorry. They're the names of our two teams."

Naruto nodded. It made sense.

"A distinct pleasure, meeting you all," he spoke as politely as possible with a small bow of his head.

Jay looked back at his friends, his face pleading for them to be nice.

Stepping forward, Sooraya took the initiative. "Sooraya Qadir. It is a pleasure to meet you as well," she spoke before she herself bowed.

"Josh Foley," introduced the gold-skinned blonde with a friendly wave.

A blue-haired girl sighed loudly before going next. "Noriko Ashida," she said with a bit of a chill, before crossing her gauntleted hands over her chest. "'Fishcake'? Really?"

The rock teen guffawed, finding the name hilarious. Naruto twitched in irritation. Why did everyone always call him that? Sure, his name was the same as a popular ramen topping…it _also_ meant "maelstrom" in kanji. How come no one ever paid attention to that? Nononooooo. It's always "fishcake".

"Noriko," whispered Sooraya, her hand on the girl's arm, silently telling her she was being very rude. The blue-haired girl deflated under her roommate's gaze.

"And we're the Hellions. Jay and Sooraya are ours. The name's Julian Keller," spoke a black-haired teen in red.

"Santo Vaccarro," spoke the rock teen, his gravelly voice unsurprising for his form.

"Kevin Ford," said the teen in the dark leather jacket.

And finally, there was the last member of the Hellions, someone quite familiar. "I'm Cessily, Cessily Kincaid," spoke the redheaded silver-skinned young woman.

"Ah, I gotta apologize for this morning."

"That's all ri-"

"This morning?" interrupted Santo. He was overdue for hearing some funny shit.

"Yeah," the blonde responded. "I was in a hurry this morning and nearly ran her over," he supplied nonchalantly.

Rock teen disappointed. Rock teen sad. Rock teen keep thinking of himself in third-person perspective.

"So what else can you do?" asked Julian, followed quickly by a 'Yeah!' from Santo.

"Julian!" hissed Cessily. It was considered somewhat taboo to ask someone about their mutation so soon.

"Aww, c'mon, Cess. You saw what he did," Santo whined childishly.

Naruto chuckled a little at the large teen's behavior. "Heheh. No, it's all right. I can-"

"Break's over. Everyone, start jogging around the track," barked Cyclops. Said track looped around the room and was easily a quarter mile in length.

Naruto decided _not_ to voice a confused question to their grumblings. Really, he could keep running all day long, easily, without tiring.

Groaning at the interruption, as one large group, almost like a herd, they began their run. He was privately amazed how Santo was able to keep up such a pace given his massive bulk.

"You were saying?" Julian prompted in an offhand fashion, trying not to sound immediately winded from the hundred yards alredy behind them.

Naruto hesitated for a moment, thinking over how much to tell them. Or, more likely, how much they would believe. The massive upside was no one in this world had been fucked over by Kyubi. And he really didn't want to get to know people only for them to drop him when they eventually found out. So…fuck it all. "There is a large reserve of energy within me. I can draw on it and use it to do stuff. My senses are all enhanced and I can heal very fast."

Santo actually stopped jogging for a second out of shock. When he caught back up, "Is that all?" he asked. It wasn't sarcasm, that was just a lot to take in. Naruto hesitated momentarily before continuing. "No, there's more. At birth, a powerful creature of pure energy was sealed within me. Recently, I absorbed its power as well. Dr. Strange said-"

"Wait, wait, wait! You know Dr. Strange? Stephen Strange? Sorcerer Supreme and stuff?" asked Josh, incredulous.

"Um, yes. He was the guy who brought me here." All eyes shifted to Santo.

"What?" the rocky teen puffed, slightly winded.

Noriko groaned. "'Some guy in a cape'? Jesus, Santo!"

Confused, "Did I miss something?" the blonde teen asked.

Noriko sighed in annoyance. "Nothing. Go on."

Still hesitant, he let it go. "Well, Strange said my genes had kept mutating, this time by the…demon's…energy."

"The creature was a demon?" asked Sooraya, her eyes narrowed behind her veil.

"That's what my people called it," he said with a shrug. Skipping past explaining that little nugget, "Anyway, Dr. McCoy said that ten percent of my dna is unknown. We assume that means that while I am a mutant, a fraction of me is demonic."

They continued running, but their eyes were wide, staring at him. "…"

He actually laughed. "You're taking this better than my old friends," he said under his breath with forced humor.

"What?" asked Cessily as she was close enough to have heard him.

He shook his head. "Heh, nothing. Forget it. Anyway, thanks to the Demon, may she rest in peace, or Hell, whichever she prefers…Due to the Demon's energy, my own grew exponentially. She gave me my healing, these eyes-"

"And your teeth?" asked Sooraya from her position at the back of the line. She'd noticed their…sharpness…when he had been at the weight press.

"Heheh, yeah. The Demon was a fox, so I got some similar characteristics. I gotta say, I always liked them. I tap into its power and start looking even meaner. They work great for intimidation tactics," he informed, grinning toothily all the while showing that said teeth were not too far from normal now. "But I digress. My naturally high stamina and endurance increased to even higher levels." Indeed, he didn't look the least bit fatigued or out of breath, and he'd been doing most of the talking. He refrained from mentioning that these gifts were from the effects of Kyubi's chakra while he was still in his mother's womb.

"This is so freaking unfair," grumbled Santo crossly.

"Why's that?" Jay questioned.

"Think about it. He's got more powers than the Avengers! So unfair!" To the group's surprise, Naruto laughed deeply. After nearly a minute he was able to stop. "Not all power is a gift, Santo," he said sagely. Many of them stiffened at the tone, not really knowing why. It was kind, warm, yet so very old.

All the power he held… In his eyes, there were things worth far more.

The things he'd always wanted, but never had.

The things he'd never been allowed to have.

"All right! That's enough!" shouted Mr. Summers from his position at the head of the tromping line, with relieved grunts and sighs from the assembly of teens.

As they all cooled down, they sat against the metal wall, letting it cool them. Chewing his lip thoughtfully, "Y'know, I'm surprised. You're all taking this rather well." And he couldn't be happier, though he didn't let it show…much. He hadn't seen any looks of fear, hate, or revulsion. You know, the usual stuff. Mainly, it was surprise.

"Naruto."

"Hmm?" He turned to Sooraya.

"You never said why the demon was…sealed…in you," she put forth, and her question elicited looks of surprise from them all. He, on the other hand, smiled.

"That is a rather connected subject," he tried to divert creatively.

"Yeah, well, this is the last class, and it's done," added Julian, his bored tone covered his interest. He wasn't the only one. All eyes were on the blonde.

"Okay. But no interruptions. It's not a story I want to repeat." He got several looks of understanding and a few nods. "Well, for starters, I'm not from this world-"

"You're an alien?" Naruto glared at Santo.

"Dr. Strange says I come from an alternate Earth," he said crisply, continuing. "In my world, there was a single powerful demon. It was horrible, at least, that's what I hear. Anyway, it was destroyed. Separated into nine weaker, yet still dangerous, demons. These demons, the biju, the tailed beasts, each more powerful than the one before it. Anyhow, I was born the day one of the biju decided to crush my home village. And thus it was sealed in me."

He wasn't quite trusting enough to tell them the specifics.

Pein.

Myobokuzan.

Kirabi, the host of the eight tales.

His father…

His mother…

…Tobi...Madara.

By the time he'd managed to become as awesome as he had, the war had already started. Shinobi were already dead by the thousands. In retrospect, he couldn't begrudge the thought of turning him over to end that. An army of Zetsu clones, reanimated shinobi from legend, oh, and enslaved/reanimated jinchuuriki and their biju. Not that he was happy that it was for power. That old nugget. It was also kind of embarrassing to attain full control over Kyubi's power only to be stabbed in the back by those he trusted, not too much later. Hell, he'd been going toe-to-toe with the masked bastard at the tail-end of it all.

If he were anyone else he might be incredibly depressed by the epic fail that was his attempt at ending the war.

"Dude, you're a hero," Josh managed to speak.

"_That's debatable. You should talk to the villagers back home_," he thought. "Well, a few days ago, some rather unsavory individuals finally managed to "extract" my demon for some plan of theirs, not minding that it would kill me. So they offered my village a deal. They'd trade them power…for me." He was still confused on that. Or maybe that was the denial bubbling back to the surface. "I was tied and gagged in less than an hour. After what should have been a few days of agony from the extraction… All I remember is a really, really big explosion and a burning me making a crater in the landside, in this world. Kyubi's consciousness is gone, and I have absolutely nada in regards to answers. Oh, and did I mention most of the people in my world can do what I can…if on a smaller scale? And that we are a civilization of ninjas?"

No one spoke. Finally though, Josh leaned forward. "My head hurts," he said, groaning.

Overall, he received speculative glances but they stopped when they gave up on looking for any signs he was lying.

"You're not lying, are you?" asked Cessily.

He snorted in suppressed laughter. "I wish it was a lie. If none of it were true my life would be so much easier." Then he caught something. A single brow rose in speculation. "Wait a minute. You all believe me when I say I had a demon inside me, but you have trouble believing me when I say I'm a ninja? What the Hell?" a massive sweat drop forming.

"Do not take it personally, Naruto," spoke Soorayah calmly. "While it is indeed a great deal of information, in the past the X-Men have fought numerous enemies."

"Mutants, aliens, crazy humans, big ass robots, the occasional demon…just a normal day around here. But ninja, that's a new one. Sure, there's a ninja cult, but those weenies don't really attack the X-Men on a regular basis," commented Santo humorously.

"Yeah, well, thanks for not poking me with a cross or dousing me in holy water. That gets old real fast."

"Mutant, demon, ninja… Don't worry, I'll still kick your ass for you," Santo added with a deep laugh, joined by chuckles from Julian and Josh. They all watched as the grin Naruto wore became predatory at the challenge.

* * *

Almost right out of class, after he changed, Mr. Summers told him he'd be taking him into town for some clothes. "What is that?" Naruto asked, pointing to the one of the many large objects in the garage. "I saw a lot of them in that town where the doc. found me. I know it's a transport but that's it."

"It's called a car. You don't have them in your world?" Naruto shook his head.

"No. I mean, civilians and nobles use horses and sometimes trains, but as ninja we didn't need either. We could usually cover distances fast enough on foot." Though intrigued, Scott left that alone, not wanting to press the subject.

* * *

Naruto stared wide-eyed at how many people there were in the town. Even Konoha wasn't this big! This was more like the size of the capital of Fire country. Things were definitely different here. He'd been to a mall in the capital with ero-sennin, but even that was nothing like this. And soon enough he was able to ignore the fumes of the hundreds of cars that make you nauseous which had been ruining the experience. It really hurt riding behind what Mr. Summers had dubbed an 'eighteen wheeler'. He had thought the fumes would kill him.

He was directed to a rather large store outlet called, simply enough, the gap. Mr. Summers had left him to find several pairs of clothing while he went to be some of his own shopping, giving him some privacy. The blonde couldn't help the fact that his search was affected by being a shinobi. Most of the clothes he picked were chosen with that in mind. To his confusion the woman who was helping him seemed delighted to do so. Never before had he received such a reaction back home. It was a bit unsettling. As he gathered clothes, sizing himself and deciding what to keep, he couldn't help but think of Konoha. They hurt him, deeply, yet for some reason he just couldn't forget it. It was his first home, no matter the pain. And it was through everything that had happened to him that he was who he was.

* * *

Sighing deeply, he gathered the various clothes into his arms and headed to the register, Mr. Summers already there. "That was quick," spoke the visored man. He just shrugged. Having always had so little money shopping was something he took very seriously, as everything he chose was practical out of necessity.

Just jeans, shorts, shirts, some boxers, and socks. He'd need a pair of ordinary shoes according to Mr. Summers, but there were none here. He could see surprise in the face of the man at how basic his selection had been, though he hid it well. Thinking back, he remembered how the other genin had relied on the earnings from missions for pocket money. Choji would use it for more food, and Ino and Sakura, they would use it to go shopping. He used the money to live off of, never having enough to actually do anything, let alone have any left over.

He'd thought about making a clone to carry his stuff, not knowing that such could have caused a problem, but was momentarily distracted. "C'mon, I'll get us some coffee," offered Mr. Summers. Bad move, as he would soon find out.

* * *

The smell was actually quite, well, breathtaking. And it was strong enough that he could smell it several miles away. He'd never tried it before, never really having a need too. Walking through the doors, he was surprised to find most of the people were around his age, if not a little older. Heading to the register, "What can I get for… Oh, hey, Mr. Summers." Pausing his roving eyes, Naruto looked back to the register to see a familiar blue-haired girl.

"Hello, Noriko. Late shift again?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I don't get off until closing… So, black with sugar?" she asked, knowing the man preferred his coffee with as few bells and whistles as possible. Turning her head a little, "Oh, hey blondie, what about you?" He twitched a little at the nickname, but ignored the jab at his neon yellow hair color. Looking at the list, his eyes stayed on one thing.

"What's espresso?" he asked innocently enough. Both Scott and Noriko felt cold shivers, unsure as to why.

* * *

It was fascinating, a little frightening, and oh so very disturbing to watch. So far, the blonde had had three cups of coffee, three shots of espresso in each. And if anything he just looked bored. "No damn way," Noriko whispered in awe.

"Language," corrected a stern Scott. Though he was surprised, too. But, then again, Hank had said that his metabolism was off the charts. More likely than not he simply burned through all the liquid caffeine.

When patrons of the coffee began hushed whispering his attention quirked. "_Look at her skin!_" "_Whoa!_" among other murmured mumblings. Craning his neck around to the front of the shop, he saw two others from the school had walked in, Julian and Cessily.

Now, for clarification, when it comes to women Naruto is an idiot. That is a fact of which we are all keenly aware…and he is not.

Hugging the drink tray to her aproned front, Noriko smiled. "Hey, guys," she called.

To be fair, Naruto's focus was primarily on the more feminine of the pair. He had run into her numerous times. The hallway, in the gym, and all over the campus, but… He couldn't place it but she just drew his attention to her like a magnet. A rather pretty magnet.

Noticing the far off look in the boy's eyes, Scott couldn't help but put on a wry smirk and nudge the dumbstruck blonde with his elbow. He remembered that look. He himself had worn it for years. "Cessily, Julian," the man greeted, if a bit stiffly. It was a reflex. Though for him, not using their last names was being more lenient than usual.

"Mr. Summers," they both greeted back.

After a further five minutes, the sunglasses wearing adult climbed to his feet. "I have to get back to the school. Could I ask you two to show Mr. Uzumaki around?"

Julian gave a muted groan of annoyance only for Cessily to give him a sharp nudge in the ribs with her elbow. "We'll do it, Mr. Summers," she answered, speaking for her friend and team member.

* * *

Cessily and Julian couldn't help but notice the way the blonde teen was looking around. Most new people would be jerking their heads around. "So why's Mr. Summers drivin' you around?" asked Julian, bored enough to actually ask a question that he most likely wouldn't remember the answer to.

Scratching the back of his head, a nervous habit from years ago, "Yeah, well, I've got no clothes, no money, and I don't wanna be a burden on the school. So, Miss Frost offered me a gig. I be Logan's assistant in his classes and I get paid. Clothes, books, etcetera."

Julian actually paused midstride. Cessily caught Naruto by the arm, stopping him, and turning him to face them. "You're working for Mr. Logan?" Their looks of horror and disbelief told him immediately that they knew a lot more about the man than he did.

"Yeah," he confirmed simply.

They were both gobsmacked. "The man's a sadist," Julian finally offered.

"Meh." There wasn't much else he could say. It was true. "So far all we do is spar. And as fast as I heal, it's not as if I can get hurt."

"So if you're his assistant, are you going to be teaching us?" asked Cessily. Julian looked doubtful, but they both remembered his story.

"Maybe." He looked thoughtful. "Don't know what I can teach you though."

"Miss Frost must have a reason," she suggested.

"Least this explains why Logan was so pissed off the other night," Julian snorted, arms crossed and shaking his head in disbelief at the conversation they were having.

"So you're not bullshitting about being a ninja?" Julian asked bluntly.

"Is that so hard to believe?"

Cessily shrugged her shoulders, the picture of innocence. "Well, you don't really look the part. We kinda expected a ninja to be, I dunno, stealthy and serious, 'n' stuff."

He smirked playfully back at them. "I was never that type of shinobi. For the most part, you're right, but I was never like that. They handled the stealthy, secretive stuff. Me? I specialized in doing things that didn't require subtlety. Point me at something and I get the job done. Finesse was never my weapon of choice." Mostly. There were times when he'd been _very_ good at such. "Can I ask something?"

"What?"

"Well, what was with all the hostility? I mean, the other night when I went to get dinner, I thought someone was gonna take a swing at me." Julian and Cessily shared a glance, the latter actually looking a tad embarrassed.

"Recently, a lot of us lost our powers." Cessily began.

"The 'M Day' thing? Doc Strange mentioned it."

"Well, a lot of the people at the institute lost their powers, and they might get sent home."

"They don't have their powers, Cess. Of course their going home," Julian interjected. Cessily glared back at him.

"We don't know that."

"Why would they stay? Xavier's is for mutants, which they aren't anymore."

"And Sofia?" That clammed him up.

Sighing in exasperation at her teammate and friend, she turned back to Naruto, her eyes shining with utter sincerity. "These are our friends. A few of us felt that any new mutants would be used to…replace…the ones that aren't mutants anymore."

"Ah." He understood that well enough.

Silence overtook them as they continued onward. The sun finally faded to nothing and night swept over the town.

Eventually, Julian looked to his watch. "Jeez, it's almost nine," he groused.

"Nori should be off soon. We can get her on the way back," suggested the metal girl. Julian groaned but didn't say anything otherwise, preferring to shove his hands in his pockets in a show of just how annoyed he was.

Amused, Naruto leaned over to Cessily. "What? They used to date?" She snorted, trying to hold her laughter in, but shared a smile with the spiky haired blonde.

* * *

2 Days Later:

The frown on his face continued to grow throughout William Stryker's speech. This…was bad, and he said so aloud.

"How so?" asked David over the group-wide mumblings.

"Look in his eyes. He believes, wholeheartedly, that God is behind him. That man is very dangerous. He's out of his gourd, sure, but that doesn't make him any less of a problem."

"Dude, serious much?" grunted Santo, but many of the others couldn't help but feel the truth in the blonde's words.

"Me? Serious?" he looked almost affronted. "Never. That's simple paranoia."

"But guys, what if he's right? What if all this really was an act of God? A miracle?" Jay's opinion left the room silent, several cold glares locking onto the redhaired youth.

Cessily looked downright disturbed. "**Miracle?** You really think God decided to cripple mutants around the world? Oh, with the exception of **us?**" she asked heatedly.

"Nice one, God," Santo snarked.

"This guy is nuts, Jay," added Josh. "I mean, cult nuts. "Don't drink the kool-aid" crazy."

"Sorry, Jay, but that's the wrong question to ask considering current company," Naruto added, grimly.

But Jay was desperate to get his point across. "Look, can any of you honestly say that even for a moment, you didn't wish you'd lost your powers, too?" It was a low blow. "That you didn't want to be normal? Maybe there was a reason we weren't chosen."

Naruto noticed a pained wince mar Cessily's face for the briefest moments during Josh's tirade.

"If this was such a beautiful damn miracle, then where's Jeffrey Garrett?" Noriko jumped in. She was nearing outrage at what he was implying. "He's dead, Jay! Hydro's dead, too. And who knows how many more mutants are out there dead or dying right now?" She had been closing the relatively short distance between herself and the winged mutant during her railing, but David stepped in before she could throttle him.

"Okay. Everybody take a breath and calm down. No one knows why this happened." Looking to Nori, eyes pleading for her to calm down, "And right now we need to stick together, not attack each other."

"What do you mean "we," human?" Heads turned to see Julian, decked out in his team uniform, leaning against the doorframe, a smug smirk plastered on his face. "I know it's hard to tell with you, but last time I checked, "you" just became a part of "them"."

Naruto mentally balked at just how…abrasive Keller could be. Just…wow. And he'd thought Kiba could be an ass…

"What the Hell is your problem, Keller?" Noriko snarled.

"Nori, it's okay…"

"No, it's not!"

Julian's smirk turned into an small smile, though still looking haughty. "It's okay, because David knows that when we're all up against the wall, he'll be free and clear." Now that was a low blow. "Did he tell you about his little phone call with Harvard, yet?"

Noriko's anger was immediately surrendered to shock as she looked to her boyfriend. "What?"

"Nori, I-"

Putting the final nail in his argument, "It's better this way, Ashida. He doesn't belong here or with you… Not anymore."

"And why is that, Julian?" He seemed to flounder at Sofia's question. She had apparently come into the room sometime during his little antihuman diatribe, and had heard it all. "Please, tell me. Why is it "better," Julian? Because David is human now? Are humans not worthy of being loved in your eyes?" She too had lost her powers, and would be going home.

"Sofia… It's not like that."

"You used to call me "beautiful". Am I less so now?"

"I…" His mind just couldn't answer. He wanted to say something. Anything! But only silence came.

Turning, she walked away. "Just stop, Julian. You're making fools of both of us."

Brain finally working well enough to register that she was leaving, the room and most likely the mansion, he called out to her. "Sofia, wait!"

But Noriko was far from finished with their conversation, and intended to do just that.

Naruto just shook his head and retreated from the room. He'd already had more than enough drama, and wasn't in the mood for more right now. He'd give Julian credit though. When he put his foot in his mouth, it went up to the knee. He stopped when he caught Logan's scent coming closer, with another similar scent. In less than a second, the scruffy man walked around the corner dressed in some weird yellow and black outfit.

"Hey, Logan," he said casually, noticing the Canadian's shadow. She was a dark-haired girl at least half a head shorter than himself, dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, a worn leather jacket, and wore a dark leather choker. She looked a little unsure of herself, more doubtful than lost, but he could still see the subtle signs that said she was a fighter. She walked with a dancer's gait, indicative of a skilled fighter. The pervy sage may not have been skilled in taijutsu, but he taught him how to spot fighters easily enough.

"Hey, kid," the scruffy man answered gruffly. "Stay in the room a lil longer, would'ja? Got 'n introduction ta make."

* * *

Once more, Naruto was amazed at Julian's utter ineptitude when it came to people…and his ego. He was nowhere near as smooth as he thought he was.

"What are you looking at, **clone**?" the hotheaded telekinetic snapped.

Hand shooting out, Naruto clipped the teen upside his head. "Don't be an ass, Julian." Looking to the newly introduced Laura, "Don't mind him, while the sequoia up his ass seems normal enough for him, he's in a drama queen mood today," he said in a friendly tone. Julian glowered darkly at him. The dark-haired girl answered him with a blank look, not knowing how to react to that. "The name's Naruto," he said cheerily before heading off to find something to do…maybe take a nap.

* * *

Unfortunately, said afternoon of rest was not meant to be. Less than an hour after getting to his room, he was pulled out by Logan.

Arriving in the training room, he was startled to see that Laura was there as well. "What's-"

"On the mat, kid," the hairy mutant barked before turning to his 'clone.' "It's been a while since I seen ya fight, Laura, So, my training dumm-er, partner, yeah, partner, and you'll spar."

Naruto felt a little…irked…at the caught 'training dummy' comment. The girl gave him an odd look, probably wondering what qualified him to train with Logan, but that only lasted for a second before she threw herself at him, two claws ejecting from either hand.

"_Oh, crap._"

He realized soon enough that her fighting style was different than Logan's, in that she had a style. She was quick, agile, and had the grace of a dancer as she flowed from strike to strike.

At first, they just played with each other, testing each other's strengths and weakness, probing defenses. It didn't get serious until Laura saw his bleeding forehead instantly heal back up.

The claws came out.

Two of them on either hand. One between the pointer and middle finger, and the other between the ring and pinky, on either hand. They were slim, elegant blades, not as bulky as Logan's.

Regardless, Naruto had to get more serious as well, lest he become cutlets.

"SNIKT!" Naruto went rigid. Okay, right there, he lost it. His eyes shone with instinctively channeled chakra before a heavy fist launched Laura across the room into the nearest wall.

That was it!

He drew the line at having someone trying to neuter him.

It had been close, very close, but he'd managed to deflect the claw with an open hand, sheathing her blades in his palm.

Getting up, shaking off the surprise from the level of force he'd used, Laura streaked back across to him before launching herself at him once again, eyes blazing, claws poised. Luckily, Logan felt now was the time to step in…before they really started going at each other. He wasn't looking to hearing the Ice Queen complain.

"All right, that's 'nough!" he growled, burly arm holding Laura aloft, Naruto crouching, ready to receive the attack. Laura almost immediately calmed, while Naruto took almost a full minute longer to force the surging chakra down. Relaxing his grip, Logan dropped Laura, the young woman landing lightly on her toes. She was sending an odd, appraising glance at the blonde.

Scratching his rough, stubbly chin, Logan was doing the same. "Just what was that, kid?"

Finally accepting that the fight was over, for the moment, he stood back up. Still wary though, he sent a curious look back at the man. "What?"

Logan glared. "That. You've never done that fightin' with me."

Naruto looked a tad sheepish. "That was my chakra. I used it to boost my strength for a moment. Didn't you read my file?" Logan was grinding his teeth. "I didn't use it in our fights 'cause you always went easy on me. She didn't. She tried to…castrate…me." Throughout, Logan looked more and more surly. Oh, he really wasn't liking that look.

"You 'n' me, kid. Right now. Anythin' goes," dark eyes gleaming, his smile was vicious as he claimed the center of the sparring mat.

Naruto gulped. He hated being right.

Especially when being right meant potentially being on the wrong end of an ass-whooping.

AN/ Re-Edited for your pleasure. Catch you later.


	3. Time Sure Flies

Of Demonic Mutation

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Marvel's X-Men.

Speaking Normally

_Thoughts_

**Demonic Voice**

AN/ It's been a while. Things have been so chaotic that I'm only now discovering the time to hit my stories. This done, others are on the way.

Chapter 3 - Time Sure Flies

Small fists hammered the wooden desk, "Even I have my limits. Absolutely **not!**" Emma was glared heatedly at Scott from across the desk. "It took time, but I've finally pierced X23's mental shields. **Death** is all she knows! She's assassinated **hundreds** without remorse." Leveling Scott with her absolute grimmest glare, "She even killed her own **mother**."

But Scott was more than ready for her. "Logan vouches for her." And it took a lot to get the gruff man's approval, asked for or not.

"That doesn't exactly help your case, Scott," she countered. "With everything that he's done recently, I don't think _he_ should be around the kids either."

Cyclops' forehead furrowed behind his visor. He could understand her point, the core issues that is, but he knew the X-Man in question. And Logan was, without question, one of the best of them. Snapping back, "Logan is an **X-Man**, Emma. He's saved both our lives, time and time again. He vouches for her. Just like Professor Xavier vouched for you. That's good enough for me."

"Scott, the children have **enough** dangers facing them outside the walls of this school. The last thing we need to do is bring more **inside**."

Gritting his teeth, he stood in a less than welcoming, leaning towards hostile, pose, finger pointing. "Emma, I stood by you when you let Danielle go and I'm willing to stand by this new training system, but…" he turned to leave.

Something turned in the White Queen. Something about the way he was regarding her. Just maybe…she'd pushed a little too far. "Scott-"

Looking back, his ruby-lensed visor flashed. "Emma, that's enough! X23 stays! **End** of discussion!"

Emma frowned. She hated losing an argument, but she also hated incurring wrath in someone she cared for. It would doubtless be awkward in coming nights.

* * *

This wasn't a fight of skill, but of endurance. Each of them could dish it out and heal anything less than a lethal blow, but in the end it would be the one with the most stamina who would win.

In a real fight, a real fight, either could go on for hours, if not days, but this would be a short scuffle based on who was winded the fastest.

It could be conceived that he had an advantage, what with his chakra and powerful, though few, jutsu, unfortunately Logan was a regular beast in a fight with untold years of experience. He was vicious, precise, and freakin' scary!

Damn! Logan had really been pulling his punches before. His left cross, what with his metal encased bones, would've easily shattered his jaw had he not been using his chakra to reinforce his body. It had still broken, even losing a few teeth, molars by his guess, but it healed back up, and the teeth regrew, in a matter of seconds.

Replacing himself with a surviving shadow clone, he drove his open hand into the claw wielder's gut, momentarily under his guard. More precisely, he rammed what was in his hand into his gut.

Logan was thrown into the wall, hard, leaving a slight impression, his shirt shredding from the swirling energy ball. Falling to one knee, he coughed up a little blood before grinning toothily. This kid…he was tricky. He held back a lot of his abilities before, hiding them until the time was right. If he had to guess, the kid was still doing so. And he was tough to boot. Not just that he was faring well, but that he'd lost a lot of skin so far, even a few digits, and almost his whole left hand, and hadn't made a peep. That took guts. And that last attack… He'd felt his organs shred from the force. He'd admit, if grudgingly, that he'd underestimated him.

He both respected and pitied the boy for his crafty nature. That only came from a rough life.

"Those clones a yours 're pretty handy in a brawl," he admitted appreciatively.

Taking a small calming breath, Naruto straightened up. "If I have a moment to concentrate, or if I'm really pushed, I can trade places with them."

"Like you did earlier. Didn't think I noticed?"

"Unhuh."

Logan rolled his neck dramatically. "Good. I'd hate for you to make it too easy for me."

* * *

The Raised Observation Room:

Hank McCoy watched the fight with avid curiosity. Logan was supposed to have been finished more than an hour ago. He was pleasantly surprised to find him still in the gym. It was a 'pleasant' surprise as he was finally afforded the opportunity to see the young blonde teen, Naruto, in situations where he used his abilities practically.

Taking notes on his pad, he made key points in regard to his endurance under stress, fighting ability…and those marvelous chakra utilizing abilities.

He really needed the boy to make a list of these abilities and…"techniques."

* * *

At the five hour mark, Logan finally called it. "All right, kid. That's 'nough," he spoke easily, not looking the least bit tired. At the same time, Naruto, across from him, was just the same. His new clothes mimicked Logan's, baring tears and blood stains all over.

Laura had watched from the sidelines, unmoving for the entirety of the epic clash. She would admit the blonde teen was good. His instincts, healing, fighting skills… All excellent, if a little unrefined.

The hairy X-Man had been asking him about his abilities, and appraising their fight when a familiar, if unknown, word popped up again.

"What's that?"

"Eh?" Logan paused.

"The "Danger Room"," Naruto specified. "I've heard some of the students mention it."

Logan's grin grew wide and toothy. "That's right. Ya haven't been yet, have ya?" Confused, Naruto shook his head, answering to the negative. "You'll see."

He was not liking that smirk. He learned fast that a smirking Logan meant…interesting. Which in turn promised pain.

"You fight well," Laura noted, her tone flat. Not that he knew her to have any other tones.

Logan gave a short nod, as if either were appraisals of the greatest value. "Well, yer not bad," he added. "Better 'n' I thought you were." Rare praise indeed. If he only knew. "Got no style, but ya know how to fight at least."

"Erm, what do we do about…" he jerked his thumb to the assorted bits of…skin…strewn all over the training room, with the odd larger pieces from himself.

Logan just shrugged, not really caring. "Nah, get it later. C'mon, supper's already started. Need to hurry if you want ta get somethin' to eat. The healing really works up the appetite." At the very mention of a meal, his stomach roared.

"Nuhuh, kid," Logan countered, catching him by the collar before he could leave. "One last thing. Hank wants you to write down all the things you can do, and I agree with 'im."

* * *

During the evening meal, late as they had arrived, Laura disappeared along with a dozen other students. Notably, the teams he'd met earlier. The…Hellions, yeah that was what they were called, and the New Mutants. The power flickered ominously a half hour after that.

* * *

9:30pm:

Gorging long done, he lay back in the grass outside. His eyelids were drooping sleepily as he hummed to himself. Once he got used to them, the massive metal titans were fairly easy to ignore. They only moved or said anything if shown hostility, according to the students.

The tune rumbling from his throat was low and random, just a reflection of his lazing mood. Staring at the moon, he felt almost like he was still back in the Elementals, except he wasn't utterly loathed her, yet. All good things in time.

"Hey!"

"Hm?" He rocked his skull back and saw Cessily striding across the lawn toward him. He tried not to notice that she was in a pair of skintight shorts and top, with a bare midriff. Though he kept his thoughts to himself, he had to admit that she was quite entrancing in the moonlight. He mentally smacked himself. Now wasn't the time to wax romantic. Especially when she knew nothing about him.

"Hunh? Oh, hey, Cessily," he greeted from his upside down position, just as she came to a stop, a worried expression on her face.

"Yeah. Listen, I was wondering if you've seen Kevin around?" she asked in a worried tone.

"Kevin?" He mentally went over the people he'd met so far. "Oh, him. Nope, sorry," he answered apologetically. She visibly deflated, her shoulders sagging dejectedly.

Nothing. No one knew where Kevin was, or where he had gone.

"Want help?" he asked. She shook her head. "Sure? I'm a fair tracker."

"No, that's all right. I'll ask Miss Frost," she replied, turning away.

Before she could leave, "Did you want to be one of the ones to lose your power, Cessily?" he asked out of the blue. She froze in her steps. "C'mon, sit down," he offered. At first, she seemed to want to go back inside by the way she shuffled her bare silver feet. Making her choice, she padded across the few feet of grass separating them to sit next to the lounging blonde, who chose that moment in time to sit up. "I wanted to ask earlier. I don't wanna be rude, but every time someone brings up M-Day, you look really depressed."

"I'm covered in inorganic, nontoxic mercury," she said after a momentary silence. "I don't need to breathe or eat."

"Uhunh," he nodded, face blank. "So?"

She flared up. "Look at me!" she hissed. Was he retarded? "All I wanted was a normal life, and I get…this!" She stretched her arms out, then reformed them into various shapes. "I'm like the terminator from the second movie." Cocking his head to the side, he stared cluelessly back, confusion written boldly over his features.

"But how is all that bad?" She blinked, staring at him like he was blind.

She deflated a little under his innocent misunderstanding. It wasn't like he was to blame. "When I woke up on that day, hearing so many of the others screaming about how their abilities were gone… I ran to the mirror, wishing it was true for me as well." She pulled her knees to her chest, seeming to shrink into herself. "And when I saw…me… All I could do was stare and ask why it couldn't have been the same for me."

"It's not just about appearance, is it?" he asked. She tensed. "I don't know what my opinion's worth, but you seem pretty to me." He wasn't trying to hit on her. It was a simple opinion that he didn't see any harm in sharing.

"…" Stunned silence.

Sighing, Naruto looked back to the sky. "People always hate and fear what they don't understand, I've seen enough of that, but I pity them." She looked at him, wondering where he was going with this. "I can do things that they could never understand or imagine. They will never understand the joy of what I can do, or of seeing things as I see them." He looked at her, eyes compassionate, but tinged with sadness. "I was always told that I was a good judge when it came to people, even if I'm a little optimistic. What _I_ see, is a pretty girl with a beautiful soul. When you look in the mirror, can't you see the same?" he asked before turning once more to the sky. Cessily was stunned into an all-consuming stupor.

She had to admit, his words had been poignant, and quite flattering, too. Had she the blood to do so, she was certain her blush would've glowed in the dark.

"Are you sure you don't want any help?" he asked again.

Shaking her head in hopes to clear it, "No, that's okay." Slipping to her feet, she made for the common building. Before she got too far though, she looked back to the blonde teen, an appreciative light in her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered. Though appreciation was the least of the feelings she was experiencing at the moment.

It was strange. Most of what she'd seen of him, he was a happy, easygoing guy. A bit of a goofball, but there wasn't anything wrong with that. So where'd this serious side come from?

It was one of the rare moments of clarity for the blonde. Not that he understood women enough to understand the significance of his words, and not that he would recant the words if he understood, either.

Watching her leave, he felt a little down himself. He had never liked seeing others sad.

* * *

10:00pm

"_Allaabu akbar. Allaabu akbar. Allaabu akbar. Allaabu akbar._" Alone in her room, the muslim student chanted a whispered evening prayer, kneeling. "Ash'hadu an laa ilaaha allallaah. Ash'ha-" But the momentary silence afforded to her was broken by a pair of sharp raps to her door. Prompted, not a second later, the door opened, the headmaster stepping just over the threshold.

"I'm sorry, Sooraya. I didn't mean to interrupt," he began, apologizing as best as he was able.

But she felt no ill will towards him for the break. "How may I help you, Mister Summers?"

Kind smile as firmly affixed as ever, when he could allow it, "After Nori requested to room alone, I thought you might like some company…" He waited for a negative reaction before he continued. "And, well, Laura needs a roommate, someone who wouldn't mind showing her around," thus amply explaining the presence of the uncomfortable looking young woman behind him.

Bowing her head in acceptance, "I would be honored."

Ushering the silent girl slash former killer in, he bade them both a good night before leaving.

"You are Sunni." It wasn't a question, and was one of the few times she had actually spoken since arriving.

Sooraya blanched in surprise. "I-Yes… Yes, forgive me, I did not realize you spoke. You are familiar with my home?"

Bluntly, "Yes. I have killed in Afghanistan."

Awkward.

* * *

Throwing off his sheets, he glared death back at the alarm clock for the umpteenth time in the last hour.

It flashed 1 AM in bright, glowing green, seeming to mock him.

It wasn't that he needed all that much sleep to begin with, but sometimes he really wished he could check out for the night like anyone else.

Sighing in frustration, he sat up and stared out his window at the quiet campus outside. He needed to do something, get his blood pumping and clear his head.

A minute later, he slid out his window, clad in a simple pair of light shorts and a t-shirt. Landing silently on the soft grass below, he was immediately set upon by the gaze of the closest Sentinel. "Jog," he called hoarsely, trying not to wake anyone. The machine kept watching him lifelessly, but did nothing so he ignored them.

It was nice out. The moon was bright, and the night air was crisp and sweet. Barefoot, he set a brisk pace, doing circuits around the fairly substantial property. Sure, he couldn't go all out, not with the eyes on him, but, eh, he'd take what he could get. That, and it gave him the opportunity to clear his mind.

* * *

-_Should we inform command?_- questioned McGivens over the com two the other two Sentinel pilots.

Snorting at the newbie's question, -_If he's not blowin' shit up, leave 'im alone_,- Bertowski growled, flipping to a new section in the newspaper he was reading. -_File a report. Nothing else_.-

-_Can I get the Sports section?_-

-_Shut up, you two_,- Gordan chastised over the com, wondering why he had to be stuck with this shift.

* * *

Saturday:

"I don't get it, what's the big deal?" he asked no one in particular for the second time, or maybe the third. They'd pulled him away from lunch, and he felt a little reluctant to just go along with them for that very reason.

"Logan's here today," Julian grunted.

It was the first day of the weekend. He'd been told that they didn't have classes on those days, the students usually doing their own things, though there were some "extracurricular" activities. The target range showed some signs of life as students who still hadn't gained an adequate mastery over their projectile talents practiced.

Blinking indifferently, "And that's different…how?"

Santo chuckled heartily, putting on a craggy smirk. "It means we get ta tear up the Danger Room, porco. Sweet, huh?"

Ignoring the jibe, he leaned over, whispering to Cessily. And though he didn't see it, Cessily blushed a little at the closeness. "Did you find Kevin?"

The redhead's face fell, "No. I went to Miss Frost, but she was too busy. She did a psychic scan of the campus, and the town, but he wasn't there."

Taking the hint that it was a touchy subject to broach, "Soooo, what's the Danger Room? Everyone seems to know, but no one's told me anything remotely helpful."

Julian, sharing a look with Santo, smirked widely. "Let's just say, it's good you're wearing something durable."

Cessily rolled her eyes at the pair. They could be so immature.

"They not give you a uniform yet?" rumbled Santo, actually proving he did notice things. So far, they'd yet to see him wearing the school standard. Which he assumed meant he didn't have one yet. And he'd surmised as much correctly.

"Uniform? No." Sure, he'd noticed their outfits, but at no time had he been informed that he would be getting one. Most of them were clad in skintight red or gold outfits, seemingly designed for mobility over outright protection. Though he noticed some of them were more personalized than others. Noriko's was offset by a pair of baggy jeans, and Julian had an undersized red jacket. Like him, Laura didn't seem to have a uniform, but her clothes were strong enough that they served the same purpose. He had to stop himself from openly admiring Cessily. Hers was a low riding set of tight pants and a similarly taut top, both red with white emblazoned markings. Red wasn't his favorite color, but she wore it well.

"It could be assumed that the faculty is waiting for more information regarding your abilities before giving you a uniform," Sooraya pointed out from the back. She was there for a team morale perspective, not to participate in the day's "fun."

* * *

'This…is a big round room.' His awestruck face made a few of the others, specifically Santo, snigger in anticipation of seeing the newbie getting creamed. His shinobi gear still dirtied from his spar with Logan and Laura, covered in blood, that is, he was left with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt; the sturdiest, least expensive clothes he could find. Still, he was really hoping they wouldn't get torn up.

Out of learned habit, he'd wrapped the calves down to his ankles, and securing his soles. Fortunately, his boots, though worn, had yet to let him down. "So what's the big deal about a big round room?"

Arms crossed, Santo smirked. "Just you wait, man. This is the best place to tear crap up," he glorified, massive stone hands rumbling as he rubbed them together in childlike anticipation. In point of fact, that particular activity was what he was best at.

"It's more than that," Cessily amended for her fist-happy teammates.

Massive stone arms over his chest, he looked at her like she'd just said something stupid. "It's all that really counts," he retorted.

"The Danger Room is a simulator," Sooraya supplied. "Through it, we're taught how to handle certain situations." The blonde's eyes grew wide. Sure, he didn't understand the 'how', but the 'why' was fairly cool.

"C'mon, kiddies," Logan's voice echoed around the room.

'_Where?_' he wondered, only for Cessily to tap him on the shoulder.

"Up there," she prompted, pointing up. She didn't really like how Julian and Santo were snickering at him. So, she took pity on him. Or, at least that was the reason she gave herself.

Tilting his head back, he noticed a large window overlooking the cylindrical chamber.

"Let's go! Move it!" Logan's voice grated through the room again. "'Ever's first, just stay behind."

* * *

"Now what?"

Logan's smirk broadened to an almost playfully cruel smirk. "Watch close." Buttons littered the display in front of him and, after a second, the room below began to hum. "Get ready, crush 'n' run," he muttered over the P.A.

As if on cue, ghostly forms started taking shape around Santo, becoming more defined by the moment. Soon he was surrounded by faceless opponents.

Leaning against the glass, the spiky-haired blonde looked on in mixed interest and confusion. Some of the room's purpose became readily clearer as the rock teen started laying into the fake people.

Cessily moved across from him, arms crossed over her chest. This was the sort of thing Santo was best at it. He knew so, and was proud of it. Sure, they all found the Danger Room to be entertaining, if grueling at times, but he used it to show off his brawling abilities. "It's a simulator," she explained. "During classes, the prof.'s will set a program and we have to accomplish an objective."

Blue eyes glimmered. "Yeah, I get it. A sort of dry run for future missions."

"Mhm," she hummed, watching her teammate's demolition. "And on our off days, Mr. Logan lets us use it."

"That I can see," he noted, avidly watching the melee battle. Santo threw one of his opponents into a pair of the others. As soon as the targets were hit with a sizeable amount of force, they dissipated before being replaced. Kinda like his shadow clones.

Stone limb projectiles matched with incredible strength (Rockslide).

Shift.

Brute strength (Onyxx).

Shift.

Telekinesis (Hellion).

Shift.

Electric blasts (Surge).

Shift.

Agility and precise claw strikes (X23).

Shift.

Shape-shifting and weapon forming from body parts (Mercury).

One after another they each took turns. The whole time, he hardly ever blinked for the amazing things he was witness to, and for the fear of missing anything.

"Sweeeet," he murmured under his breath, watching as Cessily shaped her arm into a scythe-like blade and sliced an attacking opponent from stem to stern. He was astounded at just how…fluid…she could be.

She was really graceful.

"Kid, you're up."

Snapping from his reverie, "Huh?" Looking back, he saw Mercury heading off the cleared floor.

"Get movin'," Logan urged, amused.

The door closing behind him, he barely caught the words between Santo and Julian. "Bets?"

Logan held back a snorting laugh at the small bets passing among the gathered students. Still, what better way to teach them a lesson about the dangers of gambling… "I'll take some a that action." He'd fought the kid. And, knowing he was capable, he felt comfy fleecing them for their ignorance.

If he was lucky, he'd get enough for a beer or two.

Teach 'em a lesson not to gamble, too.

* * *

Passing the redhead, they shared a fleeting moment of eye contact.

"You, uh, you fought good," he offered weakly. Women had never really been his forte.

In his opinion.

Jiraiya'd often remarked that the teen had a natural charm, not that he'd believed him.

"Erm, thanks." She quickly averted her gaze, pulling a loose strand of hair from her face from some subconscious insecurity. Heading on for the observation area, "Good luck," she whispered in her wake, not too sure of the reason behind the words.

* * *

Questioning blue eyes going up to where he knew the observation room was, "So…what do I do?" There was a moment of silence before Logan's voice came through over the p.a.

"Ya gotta beat your opponents, kid," the hairy X-Man answered. "No time limit. No holds barred." Then nothing.

Well, that was fairly straightforward. Mentally shrugging, "Okay, then."

* * *

Julian and Santo sniggered at the teen below. Five minutes? They'd be lucky if he didn't need to be helped to the infirmary.

Hiding his knowing smirk, Logan entered the simulation he wanted. He'd seen the kid in a one on one fight. Time to see how he handled numbers.

Catching the simulation title from the screen, Nori rolled her eyes. Irony much?

* * *

Just as he'd seen with the others, all around him figures coalesced. Each of the teens had been given a standard simulation with varying levels by his best guess. But he almost immediately picked up on the slight difference in his opponents.

They were…shinobi?

* * *

Logan and Laura watched quietly. Of all of them present, they understood the deeper meaning behind this exercise. For the other teens, this was training, or even a way to blow off steam, but for them it was another test of the blonde's capabilities in a fight. And both understood the dangerous nature of the projections, even if they were only imitations.

The Hand.

The resident ninjas.

* * *

"_You're kidding me, right?_" Naruto wondered, thoughts directed at the silent and unhearing control room. It was kind of nostalgic. Was this Logan's idea of humor? On all sides, he was blocked in by seemingly identical stealth clad ninja. The clothing styles were a little odd, but there was no mistaking it. They possessed varied weapons, almost all being katana.

"Fine," he huffed, his loose stance belying the coiled muscles. The faux ninja drew their weapons…but he was already gone. The moment they'd started moving so had he, blurring into invisibility. He reappeared fist deep into one unlucky shinobi.

It was…odd. Really odd. Hitting something like this, something that had appeared as if from the air itself, and encountering resistance, solidity… Sure, his Shadow clones weren't that dissimilar, but that was chakra. This… It was a bit much to wrap his mind around. Nevertheless, he dodged the blades swung at him understanding full well his situation. He hadn't known Logan as long as the others, but, from what he'd gleaned, he knew.

The safety features that he'd seen prevent the injuries of the others…they were off.

He was a healer, but that wasn't why.

It was professional courtesy.

Bending back more than ninety degrees, feet gripping the floor plating with chakra, he barely avoided the horizontal stab from one of the shinobi. Following through, he twisted, hard, and flung himself into the air and away as others took advantage of the opening he presented.

This was getting to be fun. Well, interesting.

Against his clones, despite his own unpredictability, whatever they did he already knew. Because it was what he would do in their position. These were fresh, unknown assailants. A new challenge. It would surprise most anyone seeing the fight to know that his heart rate was still well under the norm of at rest conditions.

All his life he'd fought. Knowingly or not. Fighting to survive, to protect, to change…and all that had made him into the fighting machine that he was. His body, his instincts, his reflexes…all attuned and honed to his survival.

Righting himself in midair, flipping right over another ninja, narrowly missing being cleaved, he grabbed the faux ninja's shoulders, using its weight to pull him back down before ruthlessly throwing it…him…whatever, back into _its_ comrades. The force of impact destroyed the construct, but sent several others into the metal walls.

But they got back up.

They had to either be destroyed or completely disabled to stay down.

Enough defense.

Backhanding an approaching ninja, he used his twisting movement to bend at the waist and plant his boot into another's face. Keeping his momentum going, he rolled on his axis, his resting leg coming a full two-hundred-seventy degrees to drop down on an opponent's head. By this point, they were already taking advantage of his stationary position.

He was like a scythe through a wheat field.

* * *

"_Is this some kinda joke?_" the blonde's voice came over the receiver. From above, they were all witness to the fight and were presented with the sight of him standing over the remaining Hand who, in their defeated states, faded from view. If he could see their faces, he'd probably remember his early days and how…_cough_, clumsy he had been. He knew he was far from refined, but he had improved.

It had only taken him a minute or two to deal with twenty Hand. It was one of the sparring programs Logan preferred, considering the times he'd fought them…and what losing to them had cost.

Logan smirked before subtly running a hand over the console. Depressing a button, deactivating the monitoring system, the file saved to the mansion's systems. Maybe now Hank would stop hounding him for reports on his abilities.

Speaking of which…

He was fast. Faster than he had been in their spars, even after he'd said he wasn't holding back anymore. Annoying, but he could deal. He caught on real quick to the safety protocols being quietly turned off. Like he'd have left them on. He'd fought the kid and knew he could handle it. Well…he was fairly certain.

He'd survive, so no worries there.

Regardless, it was impressive for a kid. He internally frowned at that. Fighting the way he did…it took conditioning, of sorts. The kind that showed a familiarity with death. Even if secretly, his respect for the kid grew a smidge.

All that, and all he had were a few superficial cuts to his limbs, and one on his jaw bone. They all healed.

"Not bad, kid," he called over the pa. "I've seen better, but not bad." No reason to inflate his ego.

* * *

The moment he came in through the doors, the brazen X-Man had motioned him over, and unceremoniously shoved a few bills into his hand. "What's this?"

Eyeing a few silently fuming teens, and trying not to grin too much at their expense…which it really was, "That's your cut, kid." Cocking an eyebrow, the blonde paused before shaking his head, stuffing the money into his pocket.

Julian and Santo lost some pocket money, but they, like the others, had to admire the blonde's handiwork.

* * *

He'd be lying if he said he hadn't seen this particular grenade headed his way. The training sim had been an unofficial test, meaning the Ice Queen hadn't signed off on it. He was mildly surprised she hadn't put a psychic whammy on him yet. Being around witnesses probably prevented that.

Barely.

Presently around him were most of the other faculty members. Slim, the Ice Queen herself, Hank, and Pete.

"You _disabled_ the safety protocols," Emma snarled for the third or fourth time in under two minutes since he'd explained himself. A minor meeting, thus not needing extreme privacy, the interested faculty had gathered in Hank's lab for the purpose of displaying the sneaked video. Not only did it serve the purpose of demonstrating his prowess, it also posed as incriminating evidence, proving he'd disabled the safeties.

Kurt had left campus for a mission, so he couldn't offer his own input.

The furry scientist sat before the console while the others stood around him. Scott was at Hank's side, the best place for a clear view of the video file, as well as close enough to catch any muttered musings from his seated friend and colleague. In contrast to his patient exterior, his counterpart, Emma, was tapping her foot looking all shades of haughty, glaring balefully at the clawed Canadian.

"Emma's right, Logan. You should've cleared it."

Sending a lazy glance to the headmaster, he shrugged. "I knew the kid could handle it." Next to him, and considerably higher up, Peter nodded. The footage spoke volumes in defense of his judgment.

"So now _you're_ the psychic?" Emma sniffed derisively. Her grievance with Logan for his unpermitted actions aside, she found it difficult to maintain her glaring with the distraction of the openly playing video. From Hank's furious mutterings and note-takings there was more going on than what she herself could see.

"He's doing well," Scott praised. "What's your take on him so far?"

"Kid hides it," Logan began, gruff as always, watching the blonde take out several Hand ninja on the video. Once or twice he recognized one of his own moves in the kid's movements. They'd only sparred a dozen or so times and he'd already started picking up some new moves. It was a testament to his fighting ability to be able to learn and apply a move so soon. "But the he's got a lotta power." Scott was impassive, but he heard every word.

The conversations halted in favor of watching the highlights of the video. "Kid needs a name," Logan added, subtly bringing up the subject.

Emma's face twisted in a silent huff. She made a lot over it, but there really wasn't that much to argue over. Extreme as it was, he'd gotten results. And perhaps now Hank would ease up on his constant pestering about the boy's abilities. The rough list given him by the blonde teen had only fueled a need in the fuzzy mutant to view said abilities. "A uniform as well," she grudgingly agreed.

"I'll come up with some options," Hank put in idly, hardly paying them any attention as he furiously scribbled. He would've preferred to run a test on the boy's biometrics in such a situation, but this at least offered some insight into his purely physical capabilities. "A shame he never used any of his "techniques"," he added, somewhat disappointed. It irked him to no end how incomplete his records of the blonde were in comparison to any other student. There were holes all throughout his file that prodded his curiosity. The gaps were understandable, but his meticulous records were a matter of professional pride. "As a side note, I commend you on your choice. Quite ironic."

* * *

His gaze practically bored a hole through his palm.

Damn.

The moon was out, but it shone only dimly through the cloudy night sky. But there was just enough light to glimmer off of shaggy golden spikes.

It had taken more focus than usual, drawing together his chakra to make that rasengan on his first day. And just now, trying to casually create the swirling ball.

His chakra felt…denser.

This would take some…adjusting, and getting used to.

And Sage Mode…that was a heavy loss. He found that though there was enough nature chakra to initiate it, he couldn't hold the transformation outside of meditations. It was like the nature chakra of this world was thinner, fainter than that of the Elementals. Really, it kind of figured. Give with one hand, take with the other. All the training and danger he'd gone through, and he'd all but lost it. Talk about getting the shaft.

* * *

In the dark of the common room, somber eyes stared into nothingness. Conflict was rife beneath the surface. Was it all true? So much of what had been said had haunted her for some time. "Laura?" The dark-haired girl stiffened at being caught by surprise, instinct bringing out the blades from the balled fist of her left hand.

Her presence halting his passing, he'd stopped just outside the doorway. Covered in dirt and grime, a towel draped over his shoulder, blue eyes shone through the muck and darkness.

For either though, the exceedingly poor lighting was of little consequence due to their enhanced senses.

So, just as she saw his dirtied state, he could discern the slight wavering in her green eyes.

"What's wrong?"

She was unsure of how to answer that question. As a whole, this had nothing to do with him, but, then, he would doubtless not accept her silence. "…Nightmare," she explained. It was simple and held just enough of the truth to come across as not being a lie. Again, this was not his concern. Unfortunately, he did not let it go. Nodding, he walked over, taking a seat next to her.

Using the towel to scrub some of the gunk off his face, "Wanna talk about it?"

Considering how unlikely the chances were that he would go away, she conceded to a slight diversionary topic, if still linked to her problem. "You have received training." A nod. "Training in killing." Another nod. "And you have taken life." His answer was delayed, but he nodded.

They sat in shared silence.

"Don't let it consume you," he advised out of the blue. Gaze void of emotion, as was fairly common, she looked to him, but his own eyes were downcast. "Believe in yourself, that you can be something better, that's all the advice I can offer." It was something Jiraiya had said to him once. Doubting yourself never got you anywhere.

AN/ The real pain in the ass about this story is the first volume of the New XMen comics. The first volume (post House of M) is going back and forth in time over weeks.

See you soon!

StoneShield


	4. Trouble Brewing On The Horizon

Of Demonic Mutation

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Marvel's X-Men.

Speaking Normally

_Thoughts__/Emphasis_

**Demonic Voice****/Emphasis**

* * *

Chapter 4: Trouble Brewing On The Horizon

"I don't get it."

"It's literature."

"I still don't get it."

Josh pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting back the migraine that had not-so-subtly snuck up on him. "Just read it."

For a few days, things calmed down. Depowered students were leaving in droves, sad departures depressing a great many. Yet there were still moments where moods shifted away from the sorrow. Like when Josh had offered to explain Romeo and Juliet to Naruto for their class, and the blonde couldn't stop refuting it, commenting how if he were Romeo he'd be kicking ass until no one but him and Juliet were left standing. Cessily had wanted to step in and help, but, seeing how it was going, decided it was best for her temper if she bowed out.

Santo laughed himself near tears. The others just silently hung their heads in pity for the gold-skinned youth who had, through coincidence of sharing the same class, tried forcing culture onto the ninja.

Lost cause.

-Break-

Emma paced steadily back and forth. "I can't find him anywhere, Scott." Behind his desk, the co-head of the school grimaced. The times had gotten even more perilous for their kind. First, Kevin Ford had gone missing, and now Jay Guthrie, younger brother of one of their own, had all but disappeared under their watch.

"And you've searched the city?"

"Of course," she huffed. "Really, Scott, dear, who do you take me for?"

Ignoring her teasing, "It's only been a few hours. Ask his teammates if they've heard from him. I'll tell Cannonball." Telling Sam that his younger brother was missing was not what he'd planned for today. This was exactly what they didn't need right now. What was going on?

-Break-

At the end of their latest afternoon spar, Logan mentioned that he would finally be helping out in the class. The sinister chuckle, for effect or not, left him feeling doubt though.

-Break-

Damn that man, again.

All he did was use him as a visual aid.

For the first ten minutes, the brusque Canadian worked him over, demonstrating a few moves to the interested students. Mostly, it meant letting him beat him up.

Meh, it was a living.

After that, with Logan's instruction, he produced a dozen clones for each student to practice against. In a few cases, he noticed some of them being destroyed…gratuitously. Santo and Julian seemed to take extraordinary pleasure in flattening them, and more than once they'd had to be reminded not to use their powers. Not that his clones just stood around. As per Logan's orders, his clones attacked in ways that could be defended only through the moves they'd been shown.

In the last twenty minutes of the class though, the tables turned. Logan gave him free reign with his clones.

"Downside of the Danger Room 's it anticipates you, attacks your weak spots," he explained as they fought, arms crossed. "I don't care what anyone else says. There's nothing better 'n fighting a real flesh 'n' blood opponent." He liked the Danger Room, but there was still something to be said about the difference between a computer, no matter how complex, and a person.

Naruto didn't feel like touching that argument though. In point of fact, there was nothing "flash and blood" about his clones. But he didn't feel up to mentioning that right now.

The girls actually did the best in hand to hand. Obviously, Laura dominated. When all was said and done, she had a near decade of fighting experience over any of them. Then there was Noriko. She had some training, but he could tell, from personal experience, that a lot of what she knew she'd learned on the street. She knew how to fight dirty. Cessily was by far the most defensive. She would instinctively use her physiology to slip out of the way of his attacks. Her offense was a little lacking, but, if he had to guess, he supposed it was because she was used to fighting with blades, even if they were formed from her own arms. Even Hisako, who he'd only recently met, despite the reliance on her mutation she was still strong in a fist fight. And those were only the ones he could put names to.

The guys… Most seemed to have depended on their abilities. Julian looked fit, but his reaction times were slow. And Josh didn't have the drive to really fight someone. The golden boy's movements were like that of a child lashing out. At least when he used to rush in, he'd walk away with a win, but this kid… It galled him to even consider it…but he lacked…discipline. Santo and Onyxx, he didn't know the latter's name yet, both tried to rely on their bulk and outright strength to win.

-Break-

Rubbing his closed eyes, he groaned.

"So what'ya think?" He glared weakly back.

"My opinion as a ninja, or impartial?" Logan snorted in appreciation. He understood immediately what wasn't being said. With his upbringing and his learned…profession…it afforded him a view much like his own.

-Break-

Leaning against the wall just next to the metal door, Cessily had been waiting for him. "Oh, hey, Cessily," he offered cheerfully. Of all the students, of the ones he'd actually met, she seemed the most amiable about extending olive branches. A metaphor he'd only recently read about. But she had grown on him quickly.

"Hi," her movements unsure and, dare he think it, jittery. "I was wondering, do you, erm, wanna grab some lunch?" she asked.

Head cocked, "Sure." As if to add a vote of its own, his stomach growled something fierce.

-Break-

"Why do you always eat outside?"

Swallowing the sizeable mouthful of his sandwich, a turkey club on whole wheat with all the fixings, he shrugged after a moment's thought. "Don't know. At first, it was because I wasn't feeling very…welcome, here."

"Sorry." But he waved it off.

"No, it's okay. I've been there." Heck, if not for Yamato he doubted he or Sakura would've ever accepted Sai, ruling out the potential for killing him on that first mission. Sighing, "I'm trying to get used to it all. I guess I'm still not really used to all…this," gesturing around him with his drink laden hand. "I think part of me's waiting to wake up and be right back there having the life sucked out of me," he finished wryly. "So, you know a little about me, what about you?"

"Me?" she asked nervously. This was getting eerily close to the kind of conversation border that hovered between friends and couples, something she hadn't had luck with in the past.

Quirking his brow, he smiled to himself. It was only fair. He'd spilled a fair bit of the beans that were his life. Time for a little recompense. "Yeah, how's life been treating you?"

It was interesting to hear about such a…normal…life. At least, he assumed that's what it was. Even by his standards, the students here had far more normal lives than he'd had. He absently wondered what life would've been like had the wars stopped there. Would it be similar to how she described her life here? Though he really could sympathize with her. There was nothing quite having unexpected, life altering shit, thrown your way.

-Break-

"Hey." She turned hesitantly to look back at him, stopping herself from biting her lip almost as soon as it had started. She'd taken only a few steps from him before he'd spoken up. "You want to…do this again?" he proposed, his voice echoing uncertainty. It had been a change, a nice one, to eat with someone. The only ones who'd done so back home were a rare few.

"Sure," she answered quickly before heading on back. The whole while she felt like her smile was almost impossibly wide. She didn't know where this would go, but, unlike Kevin, he actually seemed interested in her. Giving one last glance as she entered the doors, she was rewarded with the sight of him sitting on the bench, eyes closed. Intense blue eyes covered, she still found something captivating about him. He looked so serene. A contradiction from some of the sporadic moments of energy he exhibited.

Unfortunately, the relative high either experienced from their joint dining, was soon to be forgotten for the time being in favor of more pressing matters in immediate days to come.

-Break-

Naruto stumbled out of bed. He'd been reading late and had fallen asleep somewhere along the line. Late for him. Next thing he knew thunderous knocking on his door had him falling out of bed, literally. "Hurry up, kid!" Logan barked, an edge to his voice that even his sleep addled brain picked up. Shooting a glance to his clock…it wasn't even nine yet, and he had the morning off from classes. So why in Hell was the stubbly switchblade knocking on his door this early? It had better not be another spar so early on. His fingers still tingled from being regrown from the previous night's fight with him.

Logan wasn't in a patient mood, not that he ever was. He had reached for the knob, when a distinctive sound flittered from the other side of the door. A sound that made him tense before yanking his hand away. Less than a second later, a metal claw slashed around the knob, a boot following its retraction. The door shot open.

Naruto, worried as he was by Logan's abrupt entrance, was even more so at the agitated look in the man's eyes. "Get dressed and get downstairs. Now!" and he was gone.

A shiver went through him. Oh yeah, something was very wrong.

-Break-

He met back up with Logan on the first floor. He was wearing one of his more worn pairs of jeans, his boots, and a new grey t-shirt. "Here. Put this on yer belt," the Canadian grunted, shoving something into his hand as they walked. Holding it up, he realized it was the same 'X' symbol that all the others had on their clothes. Reaching down, he clipped it into place on his hip, just to the side of his pocket, the red x standing out on his dark pants. Entering the elevator to the lower levels, they traveled in silence, but the tension was easily thick enough to make him nervous.

When the elevator came to a halt just a few seconds later, he was welcomed to the sight of all the senior X-Men gathered in front of the Blackbird, all with equally grim expressions. "Good," Cyclops approved. "Let's go."

-Break-

Miss Frost was glaring, and though she wasn't looking at him he could feel he was the cause. "Young man, when I send you a telepathic message, you answer it," she rattled off crisply.

Oh, that. He'd felt a tingling, but had just thrown up his defenses and let himself fall deeper into sleep. "If Logan hadn't already gone to get you, I would've been less…_gentle_." Oh, he did not like the way that sounded.

"What's going on?" he asked, tired of being told what to do with no idea as to why. He was beholden to them for the room and board, but not so much as to make him sit down and shut up like a good little boy.

Strapped in at the helm, Mr. Summers, Cyclops, was running the preflight as fast as his hands could move. "Sorry, your uniform's not ready yet, but as long as you wear that shield everyone should know you're with us." Never mind that he hadn't answered the blonde's question.

Sitting to his immediate right, Logan turned in his seat to face him. "Somethin's happened. Somethin' bad, and I suggested to slim that we bring you along."

"I'm flattered?"

The man scowled, "Don't be. We're going to clean up a mess."

"If people are hurt, wouldn't Jay or Josh be better choices?"

"Neither o' them is ready for what you're gonna be seein'. Yer not as squeamish," Logan answered gruffly. "B'sides, there's not much chance of findin' survivors." The burly man's jaw clenched angrily.

Not looking away from the control panel, Scott finally decided to fill him in. "A little over twenty minutes ago, an explosion destroyed most of Stamford, just inside Connecticut. We're going to help in the rescue and cleanup effort." The engines hummed to life, vibrating the hull as the plane came to life. "From what Emma and Logan have told me, you can handle yourself around the dead and dying," the cyclopean X-Man spoke. Naruto's tan face paled, muscles clenching involuntarily. "With as many clones of yourself as you can make, you could make quite the difference in the cleanup and rescuing any survivors before…" he let the sentence hang. Though it sounded far more optimistic than Logan's statement.

"I get the picture," Naruto whispered, any curiosity or confusion he had felt leaving to be replaced only by emptiness. He barely registered the resistance of gravity as the Blackbird lifted off the ground.

Scott gave the blonde a quick glance, worried that he might not be ready, but he could see the resolve in his eyes. He may not like what he was about to see, but he was prepared for it. "Good. We're inbound at five minutes."

-Break-

Grim a thought as it was, he took comfort in not having eaten anything since the night before.

The only way to describe it? A screaming nightmare. It was like the land had been scarred, the people, dead and dying in the wake of the disaster. Explosion long over, the scent of ozone and scorched earth never seemed to dissipate, only ever displaced by the occasional smell of burnt flesh. The air was still thick with smoke and dirt, the sun never making it through the thick black clouds above.

There were capes all over the place. A few he recognized, either from the media or from stories told by the other students, but, given just how many were there, many were left unknown.

A dozen plus clones carried a slab of concrete between them. It must have weighed an easy ten or so tons, but they did so without a word, faces set in their grim silence. The occasional rasengan could be seen grinding, breaking the larger chunks into more manageable pieces.

"Ronin!" A solitary head amongst the crowd of blondes tilted upward and toward the source of the call. The name was a little on the nose for his people. Probably why Logan had smirked while bestowing it upon him. The visored headmaster waved him over urgently where he stood alongside several emergency personnel and a few other heroes. Nodding that he'd heard him, he disappeared in a blur of speed, leaving his clones to their work, reappearing at his side.

"Yes, Mr. Summ-er, Cyclops?" catching himself on the in-the-field protocol. Not deeming his slipup worth reprisal at this point in time, the X-Man motioned down to the rubble before them. "We need you to lift this. I'm going to cut through the parts holding it down, then I want you to get it out of here in as few pieces as you can, doing your best not to jostle or drop it. Understood?" The teen nodded readily. Motioning, a circle of five clones plus the original ringed the mass projecting from the earth.

And that was just one of the jobs he'd helped out with.

At any time he'd be called over to help with slag…bodies, or, more often than not, acting as simple muscle and numbers. Similarly, he never let the numbers of clones present dip under three digits, trying to help as much as he was able, and trying not to burn himself out too quickly. He vaguely recalled getting suggestions of rest, but they went on deaf ears. It was like a living nightmare from the many attacks on his former home. He knew that as long as he could do so, he needed to help. Seeing such once, let alone twice, was enough to breathe fire into tired limbs and keep him going, his abnormal stamina keeping him only just ahead of feeling the pains of fatigue.

-Break-

Between tasks, the mutant veterans all checked up on their interim team member, even if all it meant was a covert glance here or there.

Wolverine sent an approving eye to the newly minted member of the X-Men, even if the permanence was yet to be questioned. The kid was doing well. Any of the other kids would've either puked their guts throughout the entire ordeal or at the very least rested. He'd done neither. The kid was taking up as much slack as he could for the people that needed to rest. He was a machine. Hiding his smirk, he turned back to the job at hand. Claws flashed and ruined steel beams were slid apart in two sizeable pieces. Hefting one, he wasn't too surprised to see a clone come up and take the other.

Though there were others watching the grimly silent teen as well, making note of his abilities for later.

-Break-

Thirty-nine hours straight, that's how long they'd been there, and he was asleep on his feet the moment he'd gotten back onto the blackbird. He didn't even remember falling back into the scalloped seat. Nor could he recall strapping himself in. Officially told that they'd done all they could for now, given that they were all fairly fried, he could almost feel the adrenaline flow cease. Any clones still present kept working though, sticking around until their energy ran out, regardless of their creator leaving the scene.

He didn't really remember strapping himself in, only that he was suddenly awoken by a relaxed shove. "Wake up, kid." Blinking tiredly, he grunted in acknowledgement of his consciousness.

"Wasn' sleepin'," he tried to refute. And he wasn't, not yet. This had been a short power nap. When he did sleep, wouldn't be anything waking him up until he was ready. Physically, he wasn't all that tired. Sure, he could sleep, but more than anything else it was his mind that was fatigued the most. Recurring hordes of shadow clones as well as the gruesome job had just drained him.

"Yeah, tell me 'nother one."

Slumber's insistence was beginning to fade, annoyance taking its place. "You were born with a beard," he sniped.

"…" Silence, followed by a cuff to the back of the head. Okay, now he was awake. "Don't be a smartass."

"Better than being a dumbass."

Finding the moment's levity as a respite from the horrid memories of their work of late, Hank actually threw in his own two cents. "Now, children, take the high road."

"Which is the road where I get to kick his ass?" the blonde grumbled, yawning.

Scott watched the pair in incredulity before shaking his head. How he wished he could rub the sleep from his eyes, the visor restricting such. "Enough. We could all use some sleep. Shower, and get what rest you can." He had no doubts. They hadn't heard the end of this. Attention going back to the blonde who'd slumped over in his seat again, he got the feeling that the boy would be getting noticed in the future.

"_Scott, we need to talk,_" Emma projected to him as they disembarked from the jet, many heading for the sub-level locker rooms' showers.

"_About what? And is there a reason why we aren't having this conversation out loud?_" Rhetorical. He knew why, just not the what.

-Break-

(In the area of 10am)

"Knock, knock, knock, knock." Though far heavier-handed. It was more like a series of boomings that rattled the door like it would soon be torn from its hinges.

"Shunk, shunk, shunk!"

"Aaaahh!"

The unappreciated knocking had heralded the response of a trio of pencils rocketing halfway through the door, lodging in it at what could be considered eye level. Half asleep as he was, he was out to scare, not kill.

"What the Hell, punto?" Santo growled from the other side of the door, trying to skip over the whole screaming like a girl incident.

Irony, ever one for humor, was not so kind. "You just screamed like a girl." Ah, so there was more than one. Unfortunately, given Logan's forced entry earlier to wake him, the knob was still off. Meaning that the knocking had likely been against the doorframe. So, presence known, Julian shoved the door open. "Come on, get up. We want to hear about Stamford."

Images flashed through his mind.

"You really don't," he grumbled, raised head falling limply face-first into his pillow. "Now go away or I maim." Despite the brave words, he blearily searched for some more projectiles with little success. Dammit! All for the want of a kunai. He'd even take a paperclip. Even a q-tip. Yeah, his foggy mind could see that, owning someone with a q-tip.

"Get up, blondie," Santo chipped in. "We all wanna know how screwed things were."

His stomach grumbled piteously. Damnit. Groaning into his pillow, "What time is it?" he mumbled, giving in.

-Break-

"It's Wednesday? Really?" At least, that's what it soundded like in his head. To everyone else, it was barely understandable as he spoke around mouthfuls of food.

"Yeah. You all got back really late last night. You've only been out for nine hours," Cessily explained.

Damn. If he'd known it'd only been that long, he probably could've punted Santo in the face for waking him up so soon.

Surrounding him, watching him inhale an odd dozen cheeseburgers from the cafeteria, was a loose gathering of students interested in his participation in the event at Stamford. No secrecy here. Big as it was, there was no way to cover it up. News crews had covered the cleanup for all its entirety, at the odd moments highlighting on those who were there. For example, Naruto.

Chin poised in the palm of her gauntlet, "Where the Hell are you putting that?" Nori snorted. Tenth burger in and he still looked trim. Stomach nowhere near being distended.

"Love my metabolism." He patted his stomach affectionately. "Blast furnace."

Julian rolled his eyes. "Oh, Haha. Spill already. Stamford." Eyes drilled expectantly into him.

"…Fubar." See, he _was_ learning things in class. "Looks like a few square miles were blown all to Hell," he answered. "We cleaned up the…leftovers," choosing his words as carefully as he could. Logan was right. He doubted they could handle the more detailed version. "I can't say for anyone else, but I worked a lot of clean up. Moving debris and stuff with my clones." And he was being very loose with the word debris.

A few people glared weakly at Santo for his wild story of Galactus wiping Stamford off the map with a flaming fart. Really, why did they even bother listening to his cockamamie tall tales anyway? Though it'd originally gotten a few laughs.

-Break-

Roughly 8 Hours Earlier (Just after the return from Stamford):

"How can you be so frustrating this early in the morning? All you have to do is look out the window to see that I'm right!" Each still haggard, the argument was not helped. Turning back to him, as he followed her down the stairs, "They have to be _pushed_, Scott. They have to be _ready_."

Visor traded for his sunglasses, the frown marring Scott's face spoke volumes before he even did. "I'm not arguing that, Emma," he countered, showing that he wasn't shooting her down entirely. "But they're still just _children_ and I don't want to see their childhoods torn away from them needlessly." This school was supposed to be a haven for mutants, after all.

"I think it's a little _late_ for that, darling."

His brow only furrowed more, stopping at the base of the stairs. "I know why you're doing this."

"Do you?" she asked, not entirely sarcastic, but actually questioning his understanding of the situation. "The news is out, Scott. /the mutant population has been _decimated_…" Turning around to face him, her blue eyes were hard. "And sooner or later our enemies will come for _us_."

Never meaning to stop, she paused in her argument to pull the exterior door open at the heavy "thunk" at its base. "Is someone at the door?" He asked the question, but he knew that the students shouldn't be up. It was barely 1am. But Emma was unwilling to be deterred, even as she reached for the knob.

"If you want blood on your hands, so be it. But I'm going to protect these children at _any cost_…"

Hindsight would later remind her to be more careful in her words.

Opening the door, all she had to do was look down before all the blood left her face. "Jay?"

-Break-

The young Guthrie limp in his arms, Scott made a beeline for the infirmary, Emma hot on his heels. "CALL JOSH FOLEY! GET HIM TO THE INFIRMARY!" He probably didn't need to shout, but, given the state of the boy, some things just couldn't be helped. "NOW!"

-Break-

"_ELIXIR!_" The mental cry shook him roughly from where he slumbered, at Laurie's bedside where he'd been spending his free time trying to heal her, and keeping her company.

"Huh? Wha-" Drowsiness relented to the insistent voice slamming through his mind. "What's going on?"

-Break-

Hank had barely settled back in. Checking his ongoing lab work before sleep meant that he was caught by surprise when Scott came bursting in. "Scott?" Though his cat-like eyes and senses were much quicker to notice the teen and his bloodied state.

"_Help_ me, Hank… Jay's been hurt," Emma rushing in in his wake.

But his appraisal was nowhere near as precise as the furry x-man's. He could immediately see the damage. "_HURT?_ Scott, the poor boy has been-"

"I know, Hank! Now _help_ me!"

The door opened again. This time to reveal a golden-skinned teen. Worry etched in his face, "Where is-Oh, no." Seeing what he was seeing, and being certain that he was seeing such, he was beginning to freak out. "What…What happened to _Jay_? Oh God, where are his _wings?_" Coming around again, possibly in reaction to Josh's voice, Jay did not show any comfort in his surroundings. In fact, he was frantic.

"No…No! No!" he screamed, his eyes wide in panic. "GET AWAY!" Hank jumped over to the table just as the formerly winged boy started to thrash around.

"He's pulling out his _stitches_… Hold him _down_!" The teen's frenzy being such that both he and Scott had to hold him down just to keep him from doing further damage to himself.

Emma ushered Elixir quickly out and through the doors. "Miss Frost, what… Why is he-?" Trying to look back, he caught just a glimpse before the door slid closed.

She tried to remain as calm and poised as she could, if only for her student. Cold, calculating…she'd always been good at that. "Come along, Josh." But the teen was taking the same road as the traumatized Guthrie.

"Why? I can help him! I can-"

"You will do as your told," she intoned. "Your presence was agitating him." Something that made her ill at ease.

"Who _did_ this to him?"

Face falling, just a little, at his emotional turmoil, "His thoughts are disjointed. I don't know… I just don't know."

Nowhere near the end of his freakout, "We have to tell the others!"

"No." This would be a mercy. "I need you to forget what you've seen until we know what's going on," she informed solemnly. And, just as he was absorbing those worrying final words, her hand was on his temple. "_FORGET_…"

Eyes glassing over, he swayed before coming back to himself. "Uh…What happened?"

"Go back to bed," she ordered, with a touch of psychic influence. Watching the teen shuffle dazedly away, she made up her mind.

-Break-

Now (Late Afternoon, Sometime After Naruto Is Rudely Awakened):

"We're gonna _what_?" Naruto asked again, not sure he was hearing what he was hearing. Deadpan icy blue eyes rolling across to him, he felt the urge to apologize for something. An urge he promptly ignored.

Five Minutes Prior:

The telepathic announcement did not bode well.

He'd later smack himself for ignoring that gut feeling.

Everyone who'd heard the message, those being the students who'd retained their mutant abilities, had soon after dispersed to don their team uniforms. All the same, he could tell he wasn't the only one to feel a trickle of unease.

The way things were headed, he'd either be moved to a room as someone's roommate, or, just as likely, the skimpy less than thirty student body might suddenly be allowed singles. Depowered students had long since packed, eking out one after the other. Pretty soon, he expected a mass exodus of the now non-mutants, making a majority of space available.

Morbidly true.

Closing the door behind, he'd almost immediately started stripping off his leisure clothes. And by "leisure," those were the clothes that he did not wear during his training. Clothes…he didn't want to be shredded, or stained with blood, as both were often the case in training sessions with Logan.

It was when he started shucking his jeans that he noticed the parcel. It lay ever so innocently on the hastily reassembled sheets of his bed. So very…innocuous. Hesitating in mild surprise, zipping his pants back up, he stepped over to his bedside.

It was clothing. Had to be. But his introspection yielded in favor of heeding his curiosity.

With a care he didn't understand, his hands went to the cardboard lid and gently lifted it free.

This…This was a joke. Right?

Now:

It had taken a moment to register. She'd gotten used to his casual appearance. So that when he showed up, drifting through the crowd, she hadn't really noticed him until he'd come practically right up to her.

Whoa.

For the first time, he was in a uniform much like those they all wore. As was the case for them all though, his was different, unique to himself. The uniform's overall color scheme was a dark orange and black, black as the primary, with patches of orange. Some might say that orange wasn't really a good color for such, but it seemed to fit him. The pants were all black with exception to lengths of the dark orange on either hip going down to his mid-thigh as well as on the knees, pockets lining his legs in many places. Sleeves reaching just below his elbows, his shoulders had bits of orange from the edge of the shoulder to the elbows. The black went mainly over his profile. The shoulders, down the outside of his arms, and down his ribs, with the chest and back being a dark orange, almost reddish, as too were the inside of his arms. On his left shoulder, the ever-present X was situated, depicted by an arrangement of four red triangles. The look was completed by a pair of black and orange boots, and a similarly colored set of vambraces on both arms.

(Bear with me. If it'll help, think of a somewhat modified Red Robin outfit from New 52's Teen Titans, minus the many straps across the chest and arms, and no wing-cape.)

Not that she caught all this the first time.

No, no. Her first once over, after recognizing him, focused on how well the skintight outfit hugged his frame. He was fairly well built. Muscular, but not broad. Wiry. And the uniform left so little to the imagination. But, hey, she wasn't complaining.

…There wasn't an ounce of fat on him…

"Okay, I gotta know," he began once he was close enough to them. "Why're the uniforms so tight?"

Santo grinned widely. "Because it makes us look more badass," he supplied, flexing in a show of macho bravado, before giving an addition. "And it makes the ladies even hotter." Nori glared death at him. "What?" The truth was…he really was that dense as to not understand what he'd said wrong.

No one felt like coming to the stone teen's defense, but neither did anyone deny his words. Poorly delivered as it was, it was nonetheless the truth. There was little doubt that any straight male teenager wouldn't immediately have thought of the blonde bombshell, Mrs. Marvel, given her rather…striking outfit.

"I'm getting a really bad vibe." That was just one of the unnerved murmurings floating around the enclosure. It was, however, a fairly general consensus.

It was at that time that Emma Frost had deigned it appropriate to enter. Eyes immediately locked on the white clad headmistress, the room going silent, without any need for psychic prodding. Frosty gaze washing over them all, "Today **everything changes**," she announced right off the bat. "No more squads. No more field days."

"What?"

"You can't be serious."

"We won't do it."

The cuckoos obviously had the inside track, and their sequential reactions boded only ill for what the headmistress had yet to say.

Still resigned to her course of action, she kept going. "You came here to learn to use your powers and find your place in the world. Now we will see what you've learned and where that place is." Pausing just long enough for a breath, "There are **two possibilities**… On the battlefield or on the sidelines. You will decide which. The exercise is simple."

Oh, boy. Her it comes.

"Every man for himself. Last students standing will train to be X-Men…the rest do not." Instant audience-wide stupification. Critical eyes locking onto several students, she laid out an addendum. "Wallflower. Blindfold. Nezhno. Ernst. You are excused."

At first, he wasn't sure who she was talking about, until they started to leave. Wallflower he recognized, and she was quite vocal about staying even with her withered right arm. Really ironic considering her given title. But the ice queen was adamant. "Leave now." And, just like that, the four of them were dismissed.

Cessily's mind was still racing to catch up to what had been laid bare before them. "Wait, Miss Frost… What about **Kevin?** Did you find him yet?" Just behind her, Sooraya voiced her own query in regards to Jay who'd not been seen for some time.

Josh felt a lingering sense of forgetfulness. Like trying to catch water with a strainer, the sought after memories eluded him. "I could have sworn I just saw Jay…"

"Right now, I would suggest you focus on the students around you," she advised them, though the advice was more or less to all before her.

Shaking his head, "This is stupid. I don't belong here. Santo was right…my powers are useless in a fight." Josh started walking, making for the door, but he was stopped by Laurie who'd lingered to the very end.

"You can do this, Josh," she supported. The relationship between the two was so very confusing, but still… "You've worked really hard to be here. Don't give up now." And if that didn't banish the doubts from his mind, "I have faith in you." Turn that frown upside down.

Now wearing a thankful, if apologetic smile, "…Thanks, Laurie."

All around though, the reaction to the ultimatum was…mixed. Very mixed.

-Break-

"I swear, if you touch me with that tongue, Victor, I will crumble it."

"We'll see about that."

-Break-

"This is like the best day of my life."

"I hear that."

The two rock teens knocked fists enthusiastically.

-Break-

"Uh, does Mister Summers know about this?" A question that was promptly ignored.

-Break-

"Wait…can I leave my body outside?"

-Break-

"I knew I should have brought my helmet."

-Break-

Sooraya looked forlornly away from anyone else, avoiding eye contact. "This feels wrong." But Cessily still brought her hands up, placed comfortingly around her shoulders.

"You'll be fine. Just think of it as another training exercise, Sooraya," she offered.

But her interpretation of the young woman's words was incorrect. It was not trepidation that she'd voiced.

Standing juxtapose to the two team members, "What are you two worried about? You're Frost's students."

"Yeah, Hisako… And that means we actually learned something," Cessily snapped in retort, going out of her way not to glare back in retaliation. Tempers had been running high lately.

-Break-

But there were some who saw opportunity.

So fierce was her focus, Nori's gauntlets were starting to spark intermittently. Oh, now was the time. Now that she had the go ahead, she was gonna fry Kellar.

Catching her intense glare, he smirked back at her.

The sparking only grew more powerful.

-Break-

"_Hellion._" Long ago having lost his surprise at hearing someone else speaking in his mind, he looked up to the raised viewing box where Miss Frost had retreated to. "_Whatever it takes, I want __**X-23**__ taken out __**first.**_" Blinking, he shifted his attention to the beclawed clone. The memory of her jumping into the fray to save his butt in the simulation reared its head, for a brief moment. "_Is that a problem, Mr. Kellar?_" There was a decided edge to her voice, the mental equivalent, this time. It wasn't often she had to repeat herself to get results.

"No…" he whispered.

"_What was that?_"

Shoulders sagging just a little, he looked back up, meeting her eyes. "No. It's not a problem."

"_Good._" And within the same breath, figuratively speaking, "**Begin,**" echoed around the room.

-Break-

Almost immediately, Naruto recoiled, staggering forward from the sledgehammer sized fist he'd taken to the side of his head. He was blindsided. So maybe he'd underestimated the kids' resolve to beat someone unconscious. He wasn't proud of that…but he bounced back. Fine, if they could dish it…

"Stay down, tiny," Onyxx suggested boisterously.

Yeah, he had no idea.

Turning back, he grinned wildly at his attacker. "That all you got?" Blood pumping now, he dodged the quills shot his way courtesy of…well, someone he didn't know the name of yet. It was a melee. Very few were sticking to any one target, pretty much attacking anyone who entered their radius. For their sakes, he didn't throw any punches of his own. It wasn't arrogance, it was just that he still didn't know the extent of the abilities most of them had. That kind of lack of information could lead to him accidentally killing someone, thus reducing him to a handicap. Purely defense, as much as he could. Oh, for the good old days when he could pull off Sage mode or his Kyubi mode and simply mow through. Yeah, but he wasn't so eager to accidentally maim someone here. Although…he really needed to repay Onyxx for that shot. "Whoa!" Diving to the side, he avoided a flame attack, unfortunately…

It was odd, really, the way time and worlds can be created and separated from one another. Evading the attack, he'd crashed, bodily, into Cessily, er, Mercury. Seeing him coming at her, she'd used her physiology to get out of his way for the most part, but that made his momentum turn them both ballistic, and only gained her the advantage of landing atop him as they fell to the metal floor, tangled up. Almost immediately, each had assessed the problem: that they were on the ground, tangled up with someone. That was easy to figure out. What took either a moment to get used to though was coming nose to nose with one another.

It was only for a second.

Actually blushing at their position, "Please don't kill me," he groaned, excuses meant for their entanglement. "For this, I mean."

Through whatever means, she was atop him, straddling his torso. The world seemed to freeze for that short time, or, at the very least, fade into the background. Reason aside, each was rather flustered at the intimately close proximity.

Alas, the contact was not given the chance to develop. His skin tickled from an unfamiliar energy covering him, and he was suddenly hurled upward and away. "Sorry, blondie." Hellion. Oh, he'd be getting the pompous asshole back for this.

Though he couldn't see it, it was only thanks to Surge that the telekinetic throw lost its power. Not that she was in any way concerned for the blonde. No, she was taking her shot at shocking that arrogant smirk off Hellion now that she'd been provided the opportunity. Electricty arced through the air, rebounding off an instinctively projected shield, breaking his focus from chucking Naruto into the Danger Room's far wall.

"Ashida," he snapped. "I don't have time for this."

Lips curled into a snarl, "Too bad," she countered, making it clear just what his chances were of talking his way out. "You're going **down**, Keller!"

Frustration finally took its toll on him. "Fine. You want to go?" he questioned heatedly before using his telekinetic power to rocket at her, bowling into her. "LET"S GO!"

-Break-

Not that it was to be expected otherwise, but Laura was doing exceptionally well. Ignoring the purpose as an assassin, this was what she had been trained to do: fight.

Delivering a rattling palm strike to the chin of a porcupine-esque teen, she kept moving. On the field of battle, a still target was a dead target. Flipping back, fleetingly in a one-armed handstand, she delivered a kick to another teen's clavicle whilst dodging hardened projectiles from yet another.

But no matter how skilled, in prolonged combat, even a veteran sooner or later could be caught off guard.

"Clone **this!**"

Crouching in recovery from her acrobatics, she was rewarded with the sight of muscular, rock arms descending upon her in a double-fisted hammer. She was poised for a counter-attack, but never had the chance to put it in action.

"You're not done with _me_ yet, big man!"

Appearing in the air at Santo's shoulder, Naruto twisted at the waist and delivered as powerful a kick as he was willing to give to the teen. Again, he didn't want to kill anyone. So, while powerful, the blow only sent Santo staggering back, dizzily shaking his head.

Grinning over his shoulder, "Got you covered," Naruto informed before launching himself at the boulder-like teen. Revenge was a dirty word, but payback…ahh, payback.

Laura was actually stunned enough to blink, reconsidering what had just happened. Later, such thoughts were not for now, but…when she tried to move…nothing.

"Urk!"

"_Can't move, dear?_" Her green eyes widened only a hair before rising up to the command box surveying the Danger Room. She'd been allowed that much movement. Of course, she should have expected as much. The woman had made it quite clear that she was not welcome here. Only, now, she was going far enough to actually do something about it. "_That's a shame._" There was smugness rich in her tone.

To the side, Hellion finally pried off Surge before beelining for her. A telekinetic shell rippled over him as he prepared to attack, but, fat it would seem, led him to make a different choice. Or, in this case, Onyxx. The only other stone teen bore down on them both like a freight train.

To her silent confusion though, the telekinetic extended his energy field to her, wrapping her in it, and lifted them both out of the way in a shot, just missing being caught between Onyxx and the reinforced Danger Room walls. And her bewilderment reflected questioningly in her big, emerald eyes.

"No one saves me! Got it?"

So it was pride? "Okay."

"Now we're even."

Sensing the telepathic chill, both sent eyes to the control room, now easily right in front of them, and seeing the headmistress glaring…frostily at them, lips curled in disappointment and anger.

"_ENOUGH._"

Reeling from his head-on with the wall, Onyxx voiced a dizzy "Did I win?"

-Break-

But just as soon as it had begun, it was over. It's a funny thing. Not many people realize how short most fights are. It's fairly infrequent that you get one longer than a few minutes, unless of course either party is of the healing, stamina powerhouse sort, like a few unmentioned individuals. Not that there weren't other reasons too.

-Break-

"Mercury…Dust…Hellion…Elixir…Rockslide…Surge…Ronin." Hardly had she stepped through the doors, the headmistress had gone through a string of names. "You seven will go on to train as new X-men." (I'm uncertain if she means the team is called the New X-men, or that they are to be new X-men, the latest rendition.) Many of the students were already recovered, or well on their way.

Frowning, Naruto did his own count. Laura was head and shoulders above the others as far as outcome, so why didn't she make the cut?

"She picked four Hellions," Hisako groused sullenly.

"Don't you mean **eight**, Emma?" Making his presence known, the headmaster did not look pleased as he stepped into the room of shabby and battered teens. "You forgot to include **Laura**." Seemingly, that was all the point he was there to make as he turned on heel and marched furiously back out, but most anyone with decent hearing picked up the heated comment he'd murmured to her when he'd turned away. "And we'll discuss this little "exercise" later."

Naruto winced internally at the look the cyclopean X-man was giving, and what he read it as meaning. "_Ooh, somebody didn't know_."

Knowing full well the rough night ahead, she stood firm. "There will be an assembly in the auditorium in thirty minutes for all mutant students," she informed sourly. "Oh, and by the way, Mr. Keller…" Uhoh, icy tone and pause for effect. Bad combination. "**Surge** will be the new team leader."

If anyone was more aghast than Julian, it was Noriko.

It was almost comical.

Josh summed things up rather nicely though. "Oh, this is going to suck."

-Break-

Laura's covert thoughts lingered on Hellion. He had "saved" her. She had had little choice in the matter, the psychic presence in her mind acting as a corrosive against her movements. She wouldn't "tell" on the psychic headmistress, such would be to bare her throat and show weakness, but her guard, if it'd ever been down, was up with a vengeance now.

Looking over the survivors of the elimination fight, she didn't feel any surprise at seeing Naruto still standing. He was…like her, in a way. A rough comparison. A better supposition might be that, like her, he was a survivor.

She admired that about him.

Moreover, he had shown camaraderie in protecting her at a moment of disadvantage. She felt neither anger nor appreciation, but felt no gain in holding a grudge for such a thing.

-Break-

"Look around you…for this is all that remains."

-Break-

"Look around you…for this is but a handful of God's children."

-Break-

"Many of you only know the world where mutants thrived and were on the rise." There were so few left. So few mutants, in the world and in the audience. "Where we influenced culture, built our own cities and even a country. A world where we numbered in the **millions** and Charles Xavier's dream was finally within our reach…"

-Break-

"The Lord watched as the seeds of Satan gained strength and claimed our world. He patiently waited for his children to rise up and fight the forces of evil…" The crowd, thousands strong drank up his words with avid devotion. "But we did **nothing**. And Eden fell."

-Break-

"The world we knew is **gone** and with it most of our hope of survival. We are scattered across the globe numbering in the hundreds. The few of us on this stage," eyes motioning to the rest of the current X-men in attendance in full regalia, "have faced some of the dangers that await us, but I fear **nothing** has prepared us for what is to come…"

-Break-

"Now God has given us one last chance," he shouted with vehemence. "To make right what we've allowed to go so very **wrong**. Now you must decide what you will do. Align with God to end Satan's reign or turn your back on the Lord once again… Make no mistake, this is **judgment day.**" Smiling broadly, triumphantly at the thunderous roar of approval from the crowd, "God bless you all."

-Break-

"You are at your childhood's end. You are mutants in a world that hates and fears you. It's time to **grow up**," Emma deadpanned. "The remaining human students that haven't left already will board a bus in two hours to take them someplace safe." There followed many a sudden sharp breaths at the blatant, in-the-face announcement. "If you want to say goodbye, now is the chance."

-Break-

Reverend William Stryker turned his head just enough to meet eyes with the nearest of his robed followers. "Assemble my purifiers. We have a bus to catch." Regardless of his righteous preaching, his features took on a sinister gleam.

-Break-

It kind of sucked. There were more than a few students, now former, freely shedding tears, both in sadness at leaving the school and leaving their friends, and quite possibly from the finality of it all. While the others gave their farewells, Naruto stood to the side. He hadn't known anyone well enough to have formed attachments yet. Fleetingly, he glanced over at Cessily as she hugged her former teammate in goodbye. Okay, maybe there were a few, but none that were leaving. He still only knew about a third of the students that were staying.

"Paff! Paff!"

Naruto blinked. What was that? It had sounded not unlike a series of puffs of air. Odd. "Did you guys hear som-"

"Ambush!" He recognized the bellow immediately, and as such knew right off the bat to take the declaration seriously. In the short time he'd known her, Laura had not been one to make light of, well, anything.

Eyes bouncing around, he scanned for a target…and found one he hadn't expected. Two, actually. A pair of somethings with smoke trails…flying right at the bus as it pulled out. Blue eyes went impossibly round.

-Break-

Damn but they were fast.

It was actually through sheer luck that one of the pair had passed as close as it had. Close enough in fact for him to do something about it.

He wasn't sure what it was, except that his instincts screamed all sorts of bad. Working on muscle memory, he gathered the cloak and intercepted the nearest projectile, appearing right in its path.

Except, his body had tried to do something that it had forgotten.

The rocket, as he would later learn it to be called, hit him right, square in the right shoulder, and then his world was consumed by light then darkness.

He would also later be thankful for the meager protection the chakra he'd managed to gather afforded him.


	5. Wounds That Scar

Of Demonic Mutation

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Marvel's X-Men.

Speaking Normally

_Thoughts_

**Demonic Voice**

AN/ I know, I know. But life is busy. Update: other stories still in the works. This chapter was going to be twice as long, but still working on the latter part. Should be updated again in a week or so. Might make a slight change to chapter 1, too. As for which stories get updates, I can't force it. Well, I could but it would be crap. I write what I get the urge to write. But that doesn't mean I'm calling the inactive ones off. Just means haven't got to them. Also, with this comes the first chapter of my X23 fic. It's a bit basic, as are a lot of starter chapters and pilots.

* * *

Chapter 5: Wounds That Scar

* * *

Few saw the projectiles. By the time they did, all they had time to register was the pair of smoke trails and Naruto moving. It came as a surprise, a horrifying one at that, to see Naruto encompassed in a cloud of fire. A horror only exceeded by the remaining rocket…

As it hit the bus.

* * *

Screaming.

He remembered screaming.

In an addled state, his mind almost convinced itself that it was back in the Elementals. The first days of the war, when Madara had made his show of force, leading to his…exchange. Those few days had been horrific.

But this was different.

These weren't screams of rage and defiance.

They were screams of pain and anguish.

He came to solidly enough around the time that the earth shook with the arrival of the ONEs sentinels.

* * *

Amazing how palpable a mood can be.

"_I am the resurrection and the life…_"

He had no place with them. It was a flimsy excuse, but he felt like he was…intruding on their mourning. "_…He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die._" So he stood at the back and let those in pain express their grief in silent goodbyes, some not so silent, paying his respects to the wrongfully dead.

And he wasn't alone. Laura was present, though not formally decked out was clad in her usual casual training attire. It occurred to him that as much death as he guessed she'd seen, funerals didn't have the same effect. Her presence showed respect for the dead and her comrades, but that was about all she understood to show.

In thanks to Julian, he was dressed for the somber occasion, having been lent a suit. It wasn't the best fit. He was a tad taller, and narrower in the shoulder, but it was manageable. He might've complained about the awkward clothing to someone, but this just wasn't the time. He couldn't even look to Santo for a wisecrack.

For all his experiences, it pained him to see innocence lost, whether by death or the grief of tragedy. He had a feeling Laura would understand. These…children, for that's what they were, knew little about how cruel the world could be. Anti-Mutant remarks were one thing, but they had yet to bleed. Now though, he could see that childlike naivety lifting. It was sad, but it would keep them alive later. Hopefully.

How he hated funerals.

Mister Wagner was leading them all in a religious speech. He was still pretty vague on this world's belief systems, but he understood the wise man's words.

Through it all though he bore a weight of his own.

He hadn't been able to stop the…rockets, as he'd learned they were called. In the old days, no matter how recent those days had been, he could've gotten between them and the bus and batted the explosives away as easy as sneezing. Now though…

His power was greater, he'd felt that for a while now, but what he could draw out… Up to a point, his strength was limited. His speed was limited.

Restrained.

Like someone'd poured power into him, but with the cost of iron shackles to weigh him down.

And he didn't know why.

Worse still, he'd been knocked down and out long enough for his assistance, anything he could offer, to come too late. And it ate at his gut like a gnawing monster.

* * *

The procession continued over and over, again for every coffin, for every student lost to the attack.

* * *

"I can't believe that they're gone," Cessily murmured lowly. She wasn't crying. For now she had no more tears left to give. "That…that Brian is…**gone**." Walking beside her, jacket over his shoulder, Julian's downcast gaze didn't leave the ground, almost looking through it. The right half of his face was still a mess from the fire, the skin an angry red from the burns. Josh had offered to heal it, but he hadn't been ready for that. He'd _wanted_ to feel the pain.

"It isn't supposed to be like this," he said finally, having let Cessily control the venting ever since they'd dispersed. Sighing, he readjusted the strewn jacket. "I'm going to check on Sofia, make sure she's okay."

"Julian, what are you talking about?"

"She wasn't at the funeral. I just want to check on her…"

The silver-skinned girl's face twitched in sudden realization. "Julian…she's **gone**. She left the day of the attack." A wrong answer it seemed as the formerly grief-stricken teen's exterior became flushed with indignant outrage.

"That-that's **crazy**… Sofia's not gone!" he rebutted, unwilling to believe.

She knew what the news was doing, but he had to know. "Julian…I…Some guy came and picked her up. Her butler or something." Face knitting in sorrow, "Oh, Julian…I thought she said goodbye." If there was anything else she might've said to bring him down from his anger, he didn't give her the chance, choosing to storm off.

"Not funny, Cess!" he snapped back over his shoulder as he stomped his way to the student dorms. She'd be there, he knew it.

"Julian, wait!" she called after, but he was beyond listening. Shrinking in on herself, "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

* * *

"I wasn't fast enough. I wasn't strong enough."

At his side loped Hank, offering his ear to the teen. "You managed to stop one of the rockets and lived through it. Guilt will do you no good, my boy." Naruto sped up, only to stop dead in front of the furry cat-man, hands coming out of his pockets to ball up at his sides, looking him right in the eyes.

"It's not guilt. Before I came here, I was _fast_," he emphasized solemnly. "Now," he looked down at his hands. "I can't explain it, but I feel like most of my power is being held back. My strength and speed are…gone."

The furry X-Man took a moment to consider the teen's words. It wasn't the first time he'd said as much. He'd said similar not long after he'd arrived. "I'm afraid I'm a little out of my depth," he admitted. There was still only so much his tests had told him about his odd power. For that, he needed someone in the know. Someone… "I might instead refer you to Stephen Strange."

Naruto went blank for a moment. "The Doc?" He supposed it wasn't a bad lead.

Hank nodded. "I make no guarantee, mind you. But he would be a likely case." The trouble would be the timing. As it stood, Scott was unlikely to let any student off campus in the near future without heavy guard. "Though you would have to convince the headmaster to let you leave the grounds to see him."

Naruto's face may as well have been set in granite for the hard gaze he leveled. "I have to, professor. I can't protect anyone like this." The edge of Hank's lip curled a little, but he held the smile in check. The boy certainly had the hero complex down. "I don't care how much I have to train, but I need to know what's wrong with me." Exhaling harshly, he shoved his fists roughly back into his pockets.

Hank shook his head. The boy certainly was a jewel. He could be as coarse as Logan, sure, but he was something else. "Come on then," he urged. "We'll go plead your case to Scott." But the blonde wasn't listening, at least not to him. His attention had drifted off to the main building, where he could see Julian Keller and Cessily Kincaid in the beginnings of a row.

* * *

(In Naruto-Land)

Naruto sighed internally. It felt…weird to think of them as young when they were the same age. Watching Cessily stand there alone though, he was torn. It was mostly in passing, but he felt he had a good gauge on her. And, well, he liked her for what his gut's judgment said of her.

* * *

(Back with Hank and the Naruto-statue)

Catching the far off look in the boy's eye, his feline mug smirked openly. Julian marching off leaving Cessily behind, he felt his inner romantic coming to the surface. "Later, my boy," he amended, getting a baffled Naruto to come blinking out of his lost train of thought. "For the moment, it seems your fellow student could use some words of comfort." Shoving the boy forward, he received a questioning glance but shooed him forward anyway.

Ah, to be young.

It was comforting to see such youthful naivety in these tremulous times. Comforting, and encouraging, to know that such things survived.

* * *

A reassuring hand clapped gently on her shoulder. "Don't let Julian get to you." She turned her head to see Naruto standing just behind her, gazing at her somberly.

His hand…it felt so warm against her liquid metal shoulder.

"I know how he comes off." Reorienting, she started to the reflecting pool, Naruto walking attentively alongside her, letting her vent. "Overconfident, arrogant even, but he's a good friend," she excused. "And he really is a good person."

"I may've thought along those lines…once or twice," he admitted, shrugging. "But, yeah, I know what you mean." Mature and very endearing to cover for a friend's shortcomings so readily. If not for the sour taste in his mouth at the thought, he might've compared it to the memory of how he'd tried seeing the best in Sasuke. Gods but he hoped for a different outcome than that!

She exhaled tiredly, staring dully at the ground. Reaching the small pond, they stopped at its surface, eyes moving to scan its surface for no real reason. "And how 'bout you?"

Broken from her inner thoughts, blinking she turned her attention back to her new teammate. She was momentarily caught off guard by what she saw though. In the short time since he'd come to the school, he'd always come off as being relaxed, lazy even, and generally go-lucky in nature.

Then there were moments when his demeanor would shift. Words or actions that came as a surprise, conflicting with the side he seemed to show everyone. A few blatantly open words of compliment. Then, when he'd absolutely owned that Danger Room simulation. And now… A face she normally expected to be accompanied by a sleepy, somewhat amused, grin was anything but. Weirdly spiky hair cascaded down around his angular face. His eyes, and they were so blue, were half-lidded, rounded in honest concern. A small, sad smile crossing his lips.

It all plucked at her heartstrings.

"I-I'll be fine," she stammered.

Did he have to look so good in a suit?

"Here's hoping."

"Why were you at the back?"

He'd been expecting that sooner or later. Shrugging, "I don't really know anyone here. And of those that-" He coughed. "Well, I wanted to show my respect. That's why I was there, but, at the same time I didn't know them like you all did, so I let you have your time."

Oh, well, she kind of understood that.

Brushing away a tear at the prodding of fresh wounds, she nodded. "I'm probably not the best person for this," he began, excusing himself ahead of time. "I've never really known what to do at funerals." Shinobi weren't supposed to show emotion. Feeling was one thing, but wearing it on your sleeve was another thing entirely. But he'd never really been what you could call your average shinobi. Ironically, with all the people he knew who'd died, he'd been to very few funerals. Funerals were, after all, a luxury gifted by time. And there were people whose passing had cut him deeply, so that the scars would never really heal. All the same, "I believe we meet people for a reason." She looked to him. "Whether we know them for a moment or for our entire lives, they change us and make us who we are." Profound, but it was a thought that'd occurred to him long ago, and he would mull it over every now and again. Smirking to himself, "I've known some amazing people. Some good, some bad, some a little of both…some just plain awesome, and I like to think knowing them has made me a far better person than I would've been without them." Not that he was trying to make this about himself. "What I'm trying to say," answering her imploring eyes, "Is that you should try to remember them for what they've given you: memories, lessons, experiences." It was something he'd come to learn for himself and appreciate.

It was something he'd learned from a friend, too, after the loss of his sensei.

And he could see that his little spiel had gotten through despite his awkwardness at advising someone on such a touchy subject. But, at the same time he could see that she was on the verge of tears again.

Okay, what to do? What to do? What to…

(Light bulb – 60 watts)

Ooh, that could be a good idea.

"Nu-unh, no more tears," he urged after slapping on a grin. "Come on, how about I show you something?" Before she could really wrap her head around his offer, he'd taken her by the hand and pulled her after him. His direction being straight for the water not too far before them.

"Wait, what're you…" but the words died in her throat as he stepped out…and onto the water.

Insistent, he pulled her right after. Eyes widening at what she knew to expect, falling through the water followed by a quick beating of someone she thought had been her friend, wrenching her eyes closed, she was lifted up by a tug. A hand coming to her waist, she was immediately guided until her feet hit a solid surface. Cracking an eyelid, she met brightly amused blue eyes. "You didn't think I was gonna drop you, did you?" Looking down, she saw the tips of her dress shoes resting on his own, him holding them both over the water's surface.

Overcome by a sudden urge, she kicked him in the shin. He winced, but didn't complain. "That's for scaring me," she hmphed.

"Distracted you though, didn't it?"

Damn him for his easy smile, but he was right. "What's this for?"

Blinking at her, "Isn't it obvious?" Apparently not. "I'm trying to cheer you up."

"How?"

His grin turned crooked, but friendly. "I thought I'd ask you to dance." Once more, she felt words catch in her throat, likely to come out as a garbled pile of gibberish if they'd made it to her tongue at all. He started taking them in slow, graceful rotations across the surface, all the while giving her that damnable warm smile of his.

"Sorry. I'm not very good," he excused. He'd only actually seen it on the television a few times. Damn Santo and his obsession with _Dancing With The _Stars, yet it was coming in handy. He'd never tried, but he'd give it his best. "At least this way I won't be stepping on your toes though," chuckling at his private joke. She didn't laugh, instead she surprised him a little by leaning in to him, wrapping her arms around him, head dropping against his shoulder. He was several inches taller than her after all. "Um, you okay, Cessily?"

"Mhm," she sighed tiredly into his shoulder. "You can, mm, you can just call me Cess," she murmured, "Everyone else does." It was nice like this. She felt…comfortable around him.

"Sure, Cess."

Soon enough, hands at her waist shifted, mirroring her own hold on him until they were little more than hug-dancing on the water.

* * *

(The overlooking SENTINELS)

"_Damn, that's smooth. Way to go, kid._"

"_Shut up, Greer._"

* * *

"Quite the interesting boy, isn't he?"

Not even looking over her shoulder, Emma recognized Hank's presence. She'd done her utmost to shield herself from the sorrowful thoughts permeating the grounds, but that hadn't been all she'd felt hit her guards. "I could feel them from across the quad," she excused. She liked Henry, but even around him she had certain airs to maintain. But she would allow some things to show. "I'm happy for her. And I can't help but be continually surprised by that boy."

The blue cat-man shared a smile. "Indeed. That does seem to be his talent: surprising others."

Was that…smugness? "Henry, have you been playing matchmaker?" she questioned, wearing a faux taken aback expression. "I'm shocked at you, really I am," she jested. A small joke allowed in such times of remorse.

But he maintained his reserved Cheshire grin. "Ah, Emma my dear, sometimes it takes a guiding hand to break through the awkwardness of youth. Much like a good catalyst in a chemical reaction. Not to be presumptuous, but I would like to think we could all use the reminder of simple happiness in these fraught-filled days."

And she could certainly agree to Henry's assessment. Naruto had absolutely no clue as to how strong an effect he had on others. An idea, maybe, but no understanding of its wider effects. She could see and not to mention sense the glow coming off of Cessily, and even pick up the beginnings of the same from him. Not that he was consciously aware of it yet. Emma tried not to smirk at the deceptively intelligent cat-man beside her. She and Henry were by far the two most refined members of the institute, yet he was such a romantic inside. She was as well, but it was hidden in such a way as to never be shown to anyone but Scott.

"He has a request, by the way."

* * *

"You understand why we can't let him," Scott replied, sitting against his desk and gesturing in the air. "What with everything that's been happening." He'd switched from his suit into his uniform swiftly after the funeral had concluded. Grim as he'd been since the attack, and even more so laying their students to rest, his mood hadn't improved in the slightest from his meeting with O.N.E. He'd had to play mediator, all the while keeping Betsy from going off on the present sentinel operators.

From a less clouded viewpoint, he knew the validity to Colonel Reyes' argument. With the O.N.E's support, there might've been a difference in the outcome, keyword being might've. But there was also risk to the students from O.N.E itself. The depowering of mutants worldwide was still a rampant subject, and public answers were still in high demand. No mistake, even depowered his students had been marked. At least in smuggling them out quietly they'd hoped to get them out and away with as little to do as possible.

And things still ended in the worst possible way.

"I understand your point, Scott. You know I do," repositioning his glasses. "But heed my words, as it stands Stephen Strange has more insight into his abilities than we do."

"I thought you were making progress."

Obviously irritated at the intimation, "I _am_. But progress is just that. It is not an answer. Anything he could tell us could go a long way towards answers. And the answers I do find might not be soon enough. He feels deeply responsible for not doing more in the attack. I know, it's guilt and that quite often mends, but he is determined to regain the strength he says he's lost. All of which requires the answers that I do not have yet."

"…"

"More to the point, do you think he won't go off to find the Sorcerer Supreme on his own if you don't let him? You've spent time with the boy. Tell me he'd take that lying down." That actually got a wistful smirk out of the lately somber headmaster. "Emma's appraisal on him was hard to comprehend at first, but I begin to understand this "quality" she hinted at. I have faith in the boy, you should too."

It was a sound argument, all of it. He was just being overprotective in reaction to the so very recent tragedy. A reasonable reaction, he knew, but one that needed to be measured carefully. And he wasn't oblivious to the teen. Charisma rolled off him. It was unrealized, but still potent.

Sighing in resignation, Scott brought a hand up to cup his chin. "Fine. I'll hear him out."

* * *

It didn't really come off as all that surprising when they all found themselves gravitating to the same area. The chosen few that is. Those who were to be the new X-Men, and the ones who felt only bitter emptiness. It was only four in the afternoon, but the sky had turned mottled and black from the storm clouds that had loomed in over the campus. Weather that quite accurately reflected the sadness within as the sky itself let loose its tears.

The funeral hadn't been over long.

Individual ceremonies…combined with the number dead.

No one talked. What was there to be said?

Some team. Hours after being formed…and they screw the pooch.

Epically.

People they knew… People they'd never know again.

* * *

Cessily was torn. Her spirit soared as of the stolen moment with Naruto, but it felt wrong to feel happy in such a time. But, then… Looking over to the windows, rain pattering against the glass, she saw him stand there as he had since they'd begun to gather, just watching the rain in silence.

A part of her wondered what he could be thinking right then.

But that was beside the point. Was it wrong of her to feel joy now? So soon after… Her chin ducked back down against the throw-pillow in her arms. He'd been trying to cheer her up, she knew that. And it had worked. But so much more had come of it.

He'd hugged her back.

Call it woman's intuition, but she felt something from him. As if, as much as she'd found relief in the contact, and enjoyment, so too had he.

She recalled the feel of his arms around her, the sensation of a hand in the small of her back as they slowly oscillated on the pond surface, and was thankful no one could see the flush a normal person would've had on their cheeks.

* * *

"I know what you're going through." All eyes drifted to the door, Emma Frost walking in. She hadn't been there when they'd laid their friends and classmates to rest. In fact, it was the first time any of them had seen her all day. And she wasn't in formal attire either; instead she was in her everyday white uniform.

Several minutes prior, she'd prompted them to gather in her office. They'd done so, still in their finery, though the boys had all opted to shed their jackets, still as sullen as they'd been before. The long, brown sofa was claimed by Josh, Cessily, and Santo, while the rest of them milled around, the selected "New X-Men." No words had been said. Emotions were still too raw for conversation.

Privately, more than once, fleeting glances, writhe with personal confusion, flickered across the small room to the blonde as he stared out the vast window into the dark and rain. From where she sat on the wall-side corner of the couch, Cessily was torn between her emotional anguish and a growing…attentiveness towards the teen, and the short reprieve he'd given her from her own sorrow.

"I know you want nothing more than for it to go away. To wake up from this nightmare," the blonde headmistress continued. "But this is our lives now. And even in our darkest hour, the X-Men must find a way to push on."

Naruto had learned fairly quickly, and even initially assumed, that she wasn't one to really linger. Boy, was she proving him right.

"So I need you to push yourselves up and meet me in the Danger Room in ten minutes. We have to train…" and her gaze turned fierce, if contemplative. "For I fear this has **just begun.**"

* * *

1 Day After the Funeral:

Confused, that was the word. From his conversation with Doc McCoy, he'd expected, hoped for, a talk with the headmaster about his idea, but this… Somehow, he'd expected the conversation would be in his office.

They were standing in the Danger Room.

Minutes prior, the massive room had been busy with students. Late in the afternoon, the cyclopean X-Man had opened the doors to students for advanced long-range abilities maneuvers. Hence, firing off attacks over distance at moving targets. Naruto had joined for the purpose of retraining himself with one of his less dominant techniques.

Kaze no Yaiba. Wind blade.

Courtesy of Temari. Just prior to the start of the war, he'd met with the Sand siblings. Casual talk taking them where it had, he'd mentioned what he'd found out about him being a Wind user, even asking her if there were any wind attacks she could teach him. She'd laughed, teasingly suggesting that anything she could teach him would be far beyond him. When he'd demonstrated his Rasenshuriken for her though… Not to brag, but he could see how blown away she was by the wind technique. Eventually, after wearing her down she relented enough to show him a handful of the easier wind techniques.

Of which Wind Blade had been one. This was just the first time that he could practice without a deadline. His accuracy still left something to be desired though. More than twelve yards, and it would either dissipate or arc crazily.

Moments after the class had been called though, the leader of the X-Men had stopped him.

"Uh, Mr. Summers?" There was no real substance to his question. Heck, it wasn't even a question, just an utterance, but for the moment it proved sufficient as a catalyst.

"Ronin."

Okay, so, codenames. That was weird.

"Hank told me about your request," he explained, getting a a dumb nod from the bemused teen. "And while it has merit, I still have doubts."

"What's there to doubt?" scratching at his neck. "I just want to talk to the Doc."

Nodding, the visored man grimaced. "No, I understand your idea, but I'm more worried about your survival." To which the blonde blinked, the missing the context of the statement completely. "This recent attack proved that not only is someone gunning for us, right now, for the students, but that they can get to us." It was a glaring indignity to the safe atmosphere he wanted to give his students, and a failure unlike any other on his part. So much so that his gut roiled at the hatefulness of it all. "Have you given any thought to the possibility that you might be attacked between the institute and the Sanctum?"

"The what?"

Reaching up, Scott massaged his brow. Sometimes, he forgot just how new Naruto was to the world, to this world. "It's where Strange lives."

"Ooohh…" Understanding fully dawned, he shrugged. "Not really." Scott scowled at him for his lazy answer. "I mean, even if they find me I could always change." The scowl broke as it was now the headmaster's turn to reflect confusion.

"Change? Your appearance?" he guessed, wondering.

"Well, yeah," Naruto supplied. "It's really easy. Didn't Doc McCoy give you the list?" A question to which Scott craned his neck upward, glaring at the viewing booth above.

"_I'm still going through it. I was waiting for the right time,_" echoed over the speakers, reminding the teen that there were other staff members in the nosebleed section. In all honesty, the furry scientist had spent days pouring over the list compiled by the teen, trying to glean the details of each…technique.

Irritated gaze swinging back around onto the teen, "No, he didn't," he deadpanned.

"Oh."

Having quite enough of the blasé back and forth, "Show me."

The blonde shrugged, an ever more annoying motion in the eyes of others, before his form shimmered, blurring, and reasserted itself as if a figure becoming clearer in a fog. Instead of the young man, now across from him stood, well, himself. "I trust you find this satisfactory," the mirror image stated, mimicking not just his voice, but also his posture, expression, and demeanor.

* * *

11:03am

"I knew he had some tricks up his sleeve," Scott admitted. "But this' quite a list."

Hank nodded. "Yes. Unfortunately, I find that having this…list is meaningless." Scott's expression blanked before he nodded, comprehending.

"Knowing and knowing?"

"Indeed. First your report on his performance in training, then Logan's little Danger Room foray, and most recently your own questioning of his talents, and we can agree that the description this list offers is a paucity. We simply need some context to understand it all." For full understanding, they were beginning to grasp that he would need to demonstrate these abilities. Some if not all of them. "Afterwards, of course." Scott wanted to scowl. After the teen's performance, he'd agreed to talk to Strange on his behalf to ask for an audience.

* * *

"To be perfectly candid, I expected this sooner."

Since becoming headmaster, Scott had found himself more often than not expressing his agitation through small signs, like rubbing his temples or pinching the bridge of his nose, where his eyewear allowed. Habitually learned practices. "Then you wouldn't mind?"

The sorcerer supreme stood before him, form nearly transparent. An indication for even the uneducated that he was not there in person. This was a projection as it was infrequent for him to leave his abode. "To the contrary, I can understand that he has questions, and I hope to be able to answer them."

An eyebrow quirking behind his sunglasses, "You hope?"

Strange gave an honest smile. "There is no certainty. I cannot truthfully tell you that I have ever encountered one with as…complex a background or condition." Great. Not that he didn't understand that. "At the least, I hope to point him in the right direction."

"I suppose that's the best we can hope for," Scott agreed. "He is an…odd case."

"_More than even he knows,_" Strange mused to himself. "Truly, this is all rather well-timed." At Scott's silent, questioning glance, "I assume you have been invited to the Baxter Building as well?"

Scott frowned. "Yes." No real secret there. Stark had made no secret among them that he'd invited any and all from their "fraternity" that he could get in touch with, for an as of yet unexplained meeting to be held the following night in the residence of the Fantastic Four.

"If you'd allow it, I'd talk to the boy then."

* * *

The Next Night (Roughly 6pm):

"So, um, where're you off to anyway?"

The last few days had not lessened the atmosphere of mourning that hung over the grounds, but they were all dealing with it in their own ways. Short a time as he'd been there, most anyone would answer that the blonde's venting methods included bloody spars with Logan or attempts at running himself ragged. Both of which had the potential for hilarity. The others though, stuck to their own. Things were, in a word, quiet. Okay, so mournful would still qualify, but he preferred to think of it as quiet.

Recently though had been a change in the air between himself and the mercurial, literally so, redhead. Moments in passing grew more frequent if not more pronounced, conversations lengthening.

In private, he couldn't remember ever really being so social with anyone.

Not that he didn't like it.

Tonight, she'd gotten him to agree to seeing a movie in town with her. He'd agreed, too. At least, until he'd met with Mr. Logan just an hour ago.

Not long after that though, he'd returned and started apologizing. It crushed her, missing the opportunity, but he had been so sincere in his pleas that she could hold nothing against him. In fact, she would go as far as to say that she found his social awkwardness…endearing, if not outright cute.

"I know I said I'd go with you, but I really need to see the Doc." She wondered briefly if he knew just how honest a face he had. "I need to know why I'm not at full strength. The old me… I would've been able to save them," he explained, brow knit in frustration and sadness. But, just like that, it was gone and his attention was back on her. "If you'll forgive me…um…we can do whatever you want," he declared, the idea coming to him. "You name it."

Her cheeks darkened a little in her version of a blush, as she went through _all_ the permutations of a blank-check promise like that. Hey, she was a young woman with a healthy imagination. There was nothing with any of the thoughts that came to her. Though some were better left unsaid. At least for now.

Sitting on his bed, the redhead tried not to let her disappointment show too much. "Hmm…alright," hamming up her act of letting him skate by. Lips twitching up into a smile, "But I'll hold you to that promise." She felt rather proud of herself for the slight dusting of red across the blonde's cheeks.

Trying his best to pass the surging warmth to his face off as nothing at all, trying not to think of how much he liked that particular smile of hers, he laughed it off in tried and true fashion. "Eheheh, well, so you know, I never break a promise. I'm kinda choosy about giving them, but I don't break them." That was something better explained later.

Before any further words could be exchanged, a knock at his ajar door drew both their attentions. Standing in the doorway was Mr. Summers, backed by Logan. "Ready, kid?" asked the latter. "We gotta make tracks if we're gonna be on-time."

* * *

New York City, the Baxter Building

"Why're these things so _slow_?" The teen groaned. He knew it was going fast compared to other elevators he'd ridden on. And that count was up to three: this one, the elevator in the mansion to the sublevels, and the one in "the mall". Far as he was concerned though, going into a situation with minimal information was well worth bitching about. Enough missions without had proven that to him.

To be fair, the two senior X-Men knew almost as little as he himself did. As far as he was aware. He was sure they had hunches, or insider information, he would hazard, especially considering how the guy behind this…little get together…was a part-time teammate of Logan's. They'd informed him as such, and that it was while they were there that, in their general supervision, he'd be meeting up with Doc Strange. "Try not to embarrass yourself, kid," Logan growled stiffly.

Unlike himself, both Mr. Summers and Logan were decked out in full uniform, whereas he had been given the choice of opting out. Again, confusing, but he let it slide. Incognito, he'd just pulled on a decent pair of jeans and a button-down with the sleeves rolled up. The last part being a recommendation from Cessily. He'd just planned on wearing an everyday t-shirt, but she'd sternly suggested that he put something "better" on. Interesting, that.

Sometimes, he really missed his old jumpsuit. May it rest in peaceful shreds, its awesomeness forever eternal.

"I could take the stairs and get there faster," the blonde lipped. Thirty minutes of bumper-to-bumper traffic, followed by this boring-ass elevator ride… The higher powers were screwing with him. Worse, he knew that they knew that he knew.

"Tell you what: we get to the top, you can ride the elevator back down, and take the stairs back up," Logan grumbled tersely. "Sound like an idea to you?"

"Naruto, don't antagonize Logan," Scott interrupted, running a hand over his masked brow. Apparently, their latest refugee of a student didn't take too well to New York traffic. If not for the unspoken seriousness of Tony's invitation, it might've felt like a guy's night.

It was then that the elevator slowed, eliciting a chime that the blonde teen was absolutely certain meant "Fuck You" from its creators. It was obvious the damn things had been designed to provide the idea of convenience, only to fuck with you by taking the longest possible time to reach your destination. And the music…that was just salting open wounds.

As one, the doors split open.

* * *

(Back at the Xavier Inst.)

"Mmmmmm. My own bed."

"It felt empty in here without you."

Laurie sighed, sitting on her bed, she fell onto her back amidst the covers. Her arm was still a mummy, wrapped up in bandages to boot, but the school's resident blue, furry, cat doctor had given her the go ahead to leave the medical bay in favor of her own room. She'd been only a few floors down, but there was something to be said about the difference between a hospital bed and her own, even if it was all just in her head. "Empty, huh?" she asked coyly, smirking to herself. "I figured you'd have brought ninja-boy in h-"

"Laurie!" Cheeks burning, Cessily pulled the pillow from the head of her bed and used it to cover her face. Already sitting on the bed with her knees drawn, it meant that all that was visible were her feet, arms, and head, all poking around the edges of a pillow body. Not that she hadn't been building up to that event. She had mentioned Naruto more than once. Apparently enough times for Laurie to start piecing the puzzle together.

At the sudden defensive pillow-maneuver, Laurie's smile turned broad in triumph. "Oh, that's good! You really like him, don't you!" she chortled. Everything below the redhead's eyes was hidden behind the pillow, but even then the liquid-metal girl wouldn't meet her eyes. "C'mon, Cess, you know you can tell me," her blonde friend asked, hopping to her feet and coming over to plop down alongside her.

"M mnk mo."

Laurie looked back at her. "Okay, I don't speak pillow. Can you try that again?"

Pillow lowering enough for her to sink her chin into it, "I think so."

Blonde brow quirking upward, "You think?"

Biting her lip, "I just don't know if he…"

"He danced with you…on the pond…just to cheer you up," Laurie deadpanned. Completely ignoring that he'd somehow walked on water… that was a solid move that would definitely qualify as romantic. No wonder Cessily was falling so hard for him. Nodding thoughtfully to herself, "I get it. But you have to try."

In riposte, "Yeah? Asked Josh out yet?" Okay, low blow.

Laurie pursed her lips at the sharpness of that particular move. Her and Josh was still a tender area, given their history. After the trusts she'd broken, using her powers as she had to control David, even if for a moment, it had been like dancing on eggshells repairing the damage. And she didn't deny her fault in it either. Nor did she deny the desire to respire that damage. "Point made."

Awkward silence.

"We were going to see a movie tonight."

"He said yes, right?"

"Mhm," and briefly explained their short conversation wherein he'd "rain-checked" her.

"Well, there you go," Laurie urged. "He sounds interested to me."

"Yeah, but," her shoulders sagged a little. "I haven't had the best luck with guys."

Laurie cleared her throat. Technically, even with the rather rocky ground she'd landed herself on, she had better luck than Cessily in that arena, so would keep her mouth shut. "Cess, to be honest I think he's a bit like an idiot." She'd met him in the med bay for than once. He seemed like a great guy, if a little thick. "Look, you know there're guys who don't understand women. Period." Coughing "Santo" as casually as she could, earning a twitch of the lips from her friend. "Why don't you just walk up to him and lay a kiss on him?" Cessily's faith in Laurie's wisdom dwindled like a snowman in the Gobi, her eyes going impossibly round. "If you try and he shoves you away, it was never meant to be. But, if you kiss him and he stays, he's yours."

Momentarily, Cessily narrowed her eyes dangerously. That had been far too fluid for an out of the blue suggestion. "You took that out of a movie, didn't you?" Laurie just smiled back, trying not to smile too broadly.

"Santo left me his copy of Wayne's World while I was stuck in the Med Bay." She'd paraphrased, but the meaning was the same. "The idea stands, Cess. You've got to make a move to get your point across. Something even an idiot could understand."

* * *

AN/ Until later. The next chap is at least three quarters done. And I really need to focus on some of my others that have near-complete chapters, too. On an odd tangent, I got some flames a while back that I'd like to muse over. I find it strange that people can bitch about stories, how they're written, when those same people have written diddly and squat. Yeah, big achievers. But that's just my opinion. I honestly think that before you can bitch you should at least have some proof that you can write at an equivalent or higher level, otherwise...SUCK A LEMON!


	6. Why Can't People Just Get Along?

Of Demonic Mutation

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or Marvel.

"Normal Speech"  
"**Demonic/Pissed/Emphasis**"  
"_Thought_"  
-Communicator-

AN/ Been awhile since I touched up on this, but reread the fic and felt the inspiration flowing to get it done. Wrote the last quarter or third of it just now.

* * *

Chapter 6: Why Can't People Just Get Along?

Back at the Baxter Building…

"Whoa, tense." Followed by a sharp sneeze. "_Phew, that came out of nowhere._"

"Dark times, kid," the clawed man grumbled. He knew what the teen was referring to. They both had strong olfactory senses, and the crowd was ripe with underlying anxiety. Stamford hung over the superhero community like a pall. It was getting bad for everyone now, not just mutants. "Don't expect to see any smiles tonight if I were you."

Eyebrow quirking, "A lot of them're wearing masks, how would I know?" he retorted. Point to him as far as he was concerned.

"Scott. Logan." For the second time that month, the blonde met the armored member of the Avengers. "Good to see you could make it."

"Tony," Scott responded in kind, shaking the gauntleted hand.

Logan followed suit with just a nod. "Stark." He was a member of the current Avengers, but that was about as friendly as he got.

Metal face inclining in his direction, "One of your students?"

Scott placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "He's just here for a consultation, Tony. Is Stephen here yet?" The metal-plated man seemed to ponder to himself before answering.

"I think he was talking to Reed near the sofa," gesturing over his shoulder into the thick of the crowd.

With no cue, Logan shoved him forward. "Get goin', kid. The adults gotta talk."

"Then why're you here?" he shot back, dodging the lazy cuff sent his way by stepping out of reach, walking into the multicolored crowd.

Tony's iron-carved visage briefly followed after. "Wasn't that the kid you brought to the Stamford clean-up?" But his systems were already running recognition software through his footage of the somber event. By the time Scott could answer, barely a second's breadth later, he had pieces of video and pictures from then of that same teen aiding them with his odd array of abilities. With such ease that curiosity outweighed his sense of privacy, he'd tapped into the O*N*E database, copying the young man's file, and deleting his digital footprints. He hated not knowing something.

"Yes, a new student, actually," the current headmaster answered.

* * *

Once again, he couldn't help but notice how much of the female superhero community was decked out in revealing outfits. He didn't stare. He knew the dangers of that with _normal_ women, from seeing Jiraiya get his ass stomped to pieces. He had no intentions of looking at someone and being on the receiving end of a horrendously painful super-powered beating. Tsunade and Sakura had been bad enough and all they'd had was super-strength.

There was still a lot of tension in the air. So much so that, engrossed in their own deep conversations, he was greatly ignored as he waded through.

"Young man."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, rounding on the Sorcerer Supreme, uncoiling. "Geez, Doc. Some warning, please!" It was probably from all his mystic whoo-doo, but he couldn't sense the magic-man. If he was in Sage Mode or Kyubi Mode…he supposed he would. "What if I'd been armed?" He really missed his weapons.

The sorcerer's solemn expression warmed a touch to what could at least be seen as vaguely amused. "I trust you would restrain yourself if that were the case."

Eye twitching at how the man made no apologies, "Yeah, sure." Sure, scare a ninja. That'll be good for your health. But he could take some hits, figuratively speaking, if it meant answers. "Listen, Doc, I've been meaning to talk t-"

"Perhaps we should take this discussion outside, my boy," the caped mage suggested, waving them to the side. "Best to talk where there are fewer distractions." Scott had briefed him on what he meant to talk about, and he had actually expected such a conversation. As well, he felt that the boy might not feel too comfortable talking about such in front of so many.

Thus, he led the young man out onto the veranda. It had several chairs and a table, but, as was the mood, neither took a chair for themselves. There was the sound of traffic below, drifting upward, but no one nearby. He observed the teen's attention drift over the city, the last of the sun's light having left the horizon. "Quite the wonder at night, isn't it?"

"Back home, the village would light up at night, but nothing like this," the teen murmured, humbled by the sight. Now, if only it smelled better. He'd heard rumors about the "Hudson", and made no plans to get too close to it.

"But, you are adjusting?" He could see the varying thoughts and emotions flickering plainly over the boy's features.

"I guess." Arms crossing, "I guess…I thought thing's would be different here," he elucidated. "I figured going boom, taking myself, Kyubi, and the bad guys out would give my home a better shot at peace. And here I am… I thought this place wouldn't be as bad off, but I'm seeing the same bad things: hate, killing…Y'know?"

Strange nodded understandingly. "I do, and anything I say would doubtfully suffice for you as it would for myself."

The blonde blinked dumbly, but understood. Couldn't someone just speak normal? "I need answers, Doc. As many as you can give me."

Smiling easily, "I assumed as much. Very well, ask, and let us see if I have the answers you seek."

No point in starting off slow. "I used to be stronger than this. I used to be a whole lot stronger than this." Looking down, at his feet, but not really at anything, he remembered the things he could do…and the times when they would've come in handy recently. "I can feel the power there. I just can't pull it out. I just…don't know what to do. I know there's not much point in thinking about it now, but I can't help but think that if I was still, well, the same as when I left, there're a lot of people I could've helped."

The Sorcerer Supreme was aware that he was likely alluding to the attack on the school, as it was very shortly after that this meeting had been arranged. It was plain as day that the boy had a good heart. A bit dense, but good. Then, that was often the case of many of the great heroes whose stories echoed down through history. And he could see that, right now, he was a bit lost. Trying to fight against the wave of self-recrimination for his changed abilities, and the recent tragedy that had befallen the young students.

Weighing his future words carefully. "I have been in contact with Henry McCoy, and he has informed me of what he has surmised from his study of your physiology and genetics." As a former medical practitioner, he found the results curious, and did so even as a sorcerer. "When I first found you, I could sense that while you had tremendous power within, much of it felt…latent. Your mutation lies in adaption to stressful stimuli," the doctor went on, pacing slow, even steps between the edge of the balcony and back. "That is just as true now, as it was before. However, the constant exposure, and eventual influx, of demonic energies altered that mutation."

Naruto tried to keep up, and despite the large words, his attention was fixed.

"Without the demonic influence, you would still adapt to such stress, but not at your current rate. The energy forced the mutation to work in another manner alongside its original purpose. Your body has been continually adapting to utilize more and more of this energy. You're being…hardened, toughened up, if you will, so that you can eventually safely handle the _full_ volume of your potential power." Pacing done, he sent the teen a sidelong, measuring glance. "You are still growing. I believe you will be unable to utilize higher levels of power until your body is ready to…or, until it no longer has any other option."

Naruto understood that last one easily enough. The doc. was referring to when he might next get into a fight and have his life hanging by the proverbial thread.

"That is the best guess I would be willing to hazard."

It was still more than enough to leave the teen in deep silence.

The kind of uncharacteristic silence that would have his former teachers gawking at him.

"And my Sage Mode?" An intriguing skill that the boy had mentioned to him before. Truly, one worth respecting given the level of mental and spiritual commitment often required to attain such.

"I cannot say for certain, but, given what you've told me about it, I believe it will be…beyond you until you have regained full control of your power."

And the hits just keep coming.

A reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Know this, that reality bends to the will…bends to desire. Not easily, mind you, but if the will is strong enough, it can manifest its desire into the world."

Blue eyes blinked unknowingly. Oh, that was so over his head that it wasn't funny.

Strange's serene smile took on a more puckish turn. "A little something to consider." It wasn't until moments like this that he understood the Ancient One's tendency to leave him dumbfounded. Leaving the young and naïve baffled was a source of amusement…while still being educational.

"Or you could just be straight with me."

"You are a sage, correct? Show some patience. You will figure it out." The blonde scowled weakly back at him, but held his tongue. Point to the Sorcerer.

Groaning throatily, the teen scratched furiously at his head. "I swear, if there's a prophecy about me and you're not telling me about it, I'm kicking your ass. No offense."

Strange cocked a brow at him for both the scenario and the proposed punishment. "None taken…impatient one." Something about the boy brought out the lighter side of people, even he could sense it.

Hands stilled behind his head, Naruto just stared silently into the night sky. Not that he could see all that many stars with the ambient glow of the city. But it was more a show of thought than anything else. Thought that turned to something else.

"Um, doc?"

"Yes, young man?"

Lips pursed as he continued to gaze upward, "Is there something above us?"

Strange inwardly blinked in surprise. He'd long since sensed the presence of the SHIELD helicarrier high above, but that the boy had sensed it too…

He wondered if it was his strengthened connection to nature? His heightened senses? Either could explain it, or it could even be something else that slipped his mind currently. "My boy, there are many things above us," he answered elusively, "There is something, yes, but nothing that need concern you right now." Eyes averting from the sky, he gave Naruto a push back through the doors and into the penthouse.

* * *

(With the main party, Nrto rejoins mid-conversation)

Stepping back into the throng, the pair journeyed into the midst of a heavily debated topic. Reed Richards, Tony Stark, and Hank Pym at the proverbial head of the table, taking charge of the talk. But Strange had obviously heard enough to voice a question of his own, or even been holding one in while talking to the conflicted teen. Coming up alongside, "So what are you saying, Dr. Richards?" he asked to get the blue-clad man's attention. "That I'll be forced to become a **federal employee** or face a warrant for my **arrest?**" He found both ideas to hold distaste in his mind.

Richards had obviously been ready for the question though. Because he didn't even argue the point. Naruto had seen his fair share of assholes in high positions and, when he was younger, been the talk of council meetings while hugging the Sandaime's leg, that's how young he'd been. He saw quick that the science man was trying to be _very_ accommodating to the Doc. At least he kept his composure though. "Actually, you were one of the **post-humans** they're hoping to seek a compromise with, Stephen," he corrected in regard to the Sorcerer Supreme.

But of course. You don't just screw with _the_ magic man after all.

Just off the main group, he could hear a pair arguing from the couch. His knowledge-base was still a little lacking, so he couldn't think of any names off the top of his head. One was a bald, dark-skinned man who looked like a wall of muscle, and, opposite him, a woman who was in fact the very opposite of him. She was small, pixyish even. And whereas the man was dressed casual, she was decked out in a simple black and gold outfit. The blonde wracked his brain. The man looked really familiar. In fact, he looked a lot like one of the people on Santo's vaunted "Gotta Fight" list, but the name escaped him.

"Looks to me like they're **closing us down,** Wasp."

Oh, right. That's why she looked a little familiar. Oddly, she was also on one of Santo's lists. His secret "SuperChicks List." Not so secret. The stone teen liked to argue the placement order on the list with any of the guys willing to participate. Even Logan had the occasional crack at the list.

"**Or** making us more legitimate," Iron Man countered. "Why shouldn't we be better trained and publicly accountable?" Given the back-and-forth of the arguments, he got a few looks of exasperation for relentless insistence.

A young man not too different in age than Naruto, all clad in a star-spangled uniform broke into the conversation. A voice of youth amongst the veterans. "Somebody said we should go on **strike** if they mess with us like this. Does anybody else think that's a good idea?"

Reed viewed the young man as one would a naïve child, and he hid it poorly, if he even tried at all. "No, ah…it's Patriot, right? No, I don't think anyone here could seriously advocate a super hero strike, son."

Naruto snorted to himself at the subtle condescension.

"As far as I'm concerned, Stamford was our wakeup call," Iron Man interrupted, taking the floor again.

Mentally shaking his head, the blonde left Strange's vicinity to rejoin the present mutant advocates. It was an interesting change to see Mr. Summers about as sour-faced as Logan.

Grimace born of open frustration, Logan toned down the glare for the teen. "Got yer answers, kid?" he muttered. A night like this…he _really_ wanted to go out and get plastered.

"Hard to tell."

Logan nodded, muttering to the blonde as he came to stand aside him. Slouch, actually. "He gave you riddles, eh? You get used to it." Strange always did things cryptic-like.

"I got the gist," the blonde whispered back, passively listening to the main conversation. "But what's got iron-pants all happy for this plan of his?"

"Got his fancy suits hijacked a little while back, kid," the Canadian informed. "Raised all kinds of crap."

"Ohh," nodding. "So what's our opinion?" Logan sent him a casual, questioning glance. "I'm with you guys, remember? I just wanna know what the idea is."

Logan faced back to Stark on his soapbox. "Slim's not too happy about it. I'm betting on us all keepin' our butts out of the wind on this one. A _lotta_ crap floating around already. Too much."

He had an idea of what the clawed man meant. Things were just going to get worse.

Greeeaaat.

"And what about your students, Scott?"

At the mention of a keyword, the blonde's listening focus went from background to foreground. Pause. Leaning over to Logan, a wierded out look on his face, "Why's he looking at me?" he asked not so covertly. Despite the atmosphere, he got a few weak grins for his mix of deer-in-the-headlights and utter confusion.

Kind of like how a goat feels when it's been staked out for a bunch of wolves.

"Tony!" Scott snapped, highly irritated that the man had overstepped his bounds to such an extent.

Helmeted face momentarily twitching back to the mutant representative, "Can you speak for _all_ of your people, Scott? How about a sample answer?"

From the side, Naruto watched the headmaster's jaw clench. In fact, he was certain he was seeing a vein jump on his forehead, all the way through his uniform.

"Oh, great, pick on the new guy," he grumbled to himself, glaring sourly back at the faces staring beseechingly at him. Worse still, now he was on the spot. Embarrassed, he fell back on an old habit before even realizing it, hand coming up to scratch at the back of his head. "I don't know. I mean…I mean, I'm still new, but I trust Logan and Mr. Summers' judgment in this. It's their call, I guess." So long as they didn't do anything monumentally stupid. All said, his jaw snapped shut like a vault door. Man, for all the years of craving attention, handling it was a different proposition. Still, "Personally, I'd rather stay out of this entirely, 'cause I know a shit-storm on the horizon when I see one." He got the feeling that that wasn't the answer Iron Man had been digging for. But Mr. Summers took the lead from there.

Glaring outright, visor glinting, posture becoming absolutely threatening, "Tony, you will _not_ come to my students like a _draft_ _officer_," he grit out. That was the same tactic the military used, and he'd be damned before he let the iron-clad salesman get away with it.

Iron Man seemed to recover from his thoughts though. "I understand, Scott. For what it's worth, I'm sorry, I got a little carried away," apologizing.

The headmaster's mood did not improve as the conversation passed. And Iron Man lay off his questions of the teen after.

* * *

No one really noticed when it…he…had appeared. But, once he was noticed, he was rather hard to ignore.

Yes, ignore the colossal, regally dressed bald man who, according to the blonde's senses wasn't even there regardless of him standing for all to see.

"Whoa," the teen breathed.

"Um, so is anyone going to say anything about the big, dome-headed guy staring at everybody?"

Strange, and everyone else, looked upward at the giant, him with a mix of awe and grim respect. "His name is The Watcher, Spider-Woman," he elucidated for all. "And he only appears to record moments of great change and enormous upheaval."

"So…not a good sign," Spider-Man cracked. Though the humor was strained.

"Indeed, his presence does not bode well."

Head cocked, the blonde stared with narrowed eyes at the bald giant. "_Feel like I've seen this guy before._"

* * *

(The return trip)

The meeting hadn't made much progress from there, and wrapped up soon after, at least as far as Logan and Mr. Summers were concerned. Naruto just plopped himself down on a couch, waiting for the two X-Men to call it a night.

The ride back was quiet. Dead silence, actually. Getting back to the car, he was gruffly asked by Mr. Summers to keep a lid on what he'd heard until he could brief the students himself. It wasn't the kind of suggestion that accepted a "No". From then on, nothing. Though neither of his two escorts talked afterward, the mood was sour and tense. Mr. Summers was better at hiding his discomfort from the meeting, showing only a subtle frown. Logan on the other hand…didn't seem to care if anyone saw how grumpy he was feeling.

Not that he paid that much attention. Strange hadn't told him much, but what little he'd learned was worth its weight in gold. That was his guess anyway. And from the meeting's lulling all the way through the trip back he was lost in thought.

It was well after 10 when they made it back to the school grounds.

There were still a few students still up and about, but if there were any questions sent his way he didn't notice. Shuffling through the mansion, he found himself back in his room, absentmindedly loving his fixed door.

* * *

New York City, The Church Of The Reverend William Stryker

Earlier that night, another meeting took place.

Long prayers whispered through the empty church, the words of a single man kneeling before a pedestal on which a golden crucifix stood. Long robes of varying shades of purple hung from his shoulders and he prostrated himself before the cross.

Soon enough though, the low words came to a halt. "Amen," the man whispered in closing, hands dropping and head rising. Placing a hand on one knee, he rose up to his feet.

From nearby, a pair of men, one weathered by the years, the other barely into his thirties given his rich brown mustache, both adorned in the same manner of dress, with the addition of purple hoods, stepped forward. Coming up behind the risen man, the old man reached over him and helped him to step out of his vestments, leaving him in a black suit, a large palm-sized cross hanging against his chest. "Purifier Jacob has requested your presence," the elder man rasped, voice gravelly as sandpaper. "It is about the vision."

"Thank you, my son," Reverend William Stryker affirmed.

Ironic considering the age gap between the two.

* * *

Deeper within the church, lovingly cared for wood and stained glass was replaced by steel and dim artificial lighting. Followed by his clerics, Stryker delved into the dark chambers of his following.

Heavy, twin steel doors parted as he entered the nervous center. Several computers, many unmanned for the time being, lining the dark room. Clearing his throat to announce himself, "Tell me…are the changes as we expected?"

A man in his late forties, the sole other person in the room, adorned in all the cloth of the reverend's disciples, added to by a pair of eye encompassing goggles, turned to regard the reverend before immediately looking back to the computer screen that illuminated his corner of the room. "Oh yes, reverend," he agreed almost gleefully. "As you predicted." Twisting his head back to give a smile of triumph to his leader.

A few quick back-and-forths, a soft lashing in reprimand of silent doubts from the head of their…order, and it was back to business. "Another has been marked as an omega threat," the computer specialist informed, hands returning to their sharp dance across the keyboard.

Stryker breathed deep, the breath of one preparing for that next step, confident in the road ahead of him. "Excellent. Now we know who our next target must be," taking in all of the photo that'd been pulled up on the screen. Two teens in gold uniforms.

* * *

(Some days after the Baxter Building meeting…)

Secret Location: Illuminati Meeting in progress.

Present: Tony Stark, Ironman

Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic

Prince Namor of Atlantis

Blackbolt of the Inhumans

Dr. Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme…in astral form.

The gathering was short several members. Xavier was still unaccounted for and T'Challa had washed his hands of the group the first day in. Strange had left when Tony had broached the idea of…hunting down…heroes who didn't get in line with the law, disgusted with the idea. But towards the end of his social gathering of heroes, discussing the lingering effects of Stamford on the hero community, the technocrat had pleaded with him to attend this latest meeting. "Now can you tell me what is so special about that boy that you took some one-on-one time with him?" Tony asked in mild exasperation. He'd nurtured a curiosity in the teen ever since the cleanup at Stamford days prior, and still ongoing. "Not to pry, but I've also seen the O*N*E files. You were the one to bring him to the Xavier Institute. His file, what there is of one, shows him as being a mutant, but I can't help but think that there must be more to it than just that to have earned your attention. Just what's going on, Stephen?" bringing the full attention of the others on the spectral projection of the sorcerer.

Strange looked rather uncomfortable as he contemplated how much he should actually say. While he had never actually asked him to keep all this under wraps, it was still something that mightn't be shared casually. Then, there was the role their little group was supposed to play. A role he had as of late wanted no part in. To keep them from doing something potentially foolish, it was safer for them to know. Hence, the moral turmoil. "The boy is…special."

"That would be quite the understatement," Reed interrupted, computer pad in hand. "I've been going over his blood work. While his general anatomy is much the same as ours… On a cellular level…and a genetic level… there are things there that could fill a library. His cells have uncharted regenerative capabilities, much in the same way as Wolverine, but unlike anyone else we've encountered, human, mutant, or otherwise, it's the strength of his cells that is most interesting. Most everything else known can be explained in the file O*N*E has on him, sparse though the file may be." He scrolled down his data pad. "However, outside of the "chakra" energy noted in his profile, a look at the scans shows a secondary energy as well, one not officially recognized, but in a density difference measured in levels of magnitude."

"There's nothing on that other energy?" Tony asked, intrigued by Reed's appraisal. He'd noticed the mentionings of this "chakra" in his files.

The leader of the Fantastic Four frowned before turning an eye on their resident sorcerer. "Is there anything you can tell us that might be helpful, Stephen?"

Again, it was necessary to give them a little information. "He was the…host…of a powerful entity, at one point."

"He was possessed?" Tony asked, incredulous.

Again uncomfortable at divulging secrets not his own, he felt that at least this much needed clarifying. "Much in the same manner as the late X-Man who was host to the Phoenix."

Namor lounged in his chair as if it were a throne. "You mean the mutant, Jean Grey?" The Sorcerer Supreme nodded. The Atlantean people had their own historical mentionings of the Phoenix.

"He once held a creature of extraordinary power. Though, by held I truly mean imprisoned."

"Pardon?" Reed asked, both confused and intrigued.

"It was imprisoned in him to cease its destruction, his own will keeping it in check," Strange amended. "The time the creature inhabited his body was enough for the energy to…change him. It is why his mutant gene is different than those of other mutants. In the event that brought him to our own world, the creature's consciousness was stripped away, leaving the power it possessed to merge with the boy's own." There, he'd said it. "A portion of his genetic code was altered, making him, respectfully, something akin to a distant genetic descendant of said creature."

Reed looked thoughtful. "That would explain the unidentifiable bits of genetic code I've been analyzing."

"If this is all true, then how powerful is this boy?" demanded Namor, albeit politely.

"That…would be a difficult question to answer, your majesty," Strange answered.

"How so?"

"Because the better question would be "How strong is he now?" as well as "How strong will he become"?"

Tony leaned forward, resting his weight on his armored elbows, his interest piqued by Stephen's proposed questions. "What are you saying, Stephen?"

The ghostly Strange's jaw set. He had told them all that they needed to know. "I can say no more. I have already breached the trust he placed in me by answering your questions up to this point." He stood up. "I will end with this: I would not advise doing anything to make that boy your enemy," he offered grimly, and faded away anticlimactically.

* * *

As the meeting came to an end, the gathered men left, leaving only Reed and Tony behind as he'd pulled the rubber man aside before he could leave. "Reed, there's something I need to talk with you about. Something your research on the kid's cells could help with."

History has been filled with bad decisions.

An epic one was just made.

* * *

(Xavier's School)

"We will begin the simulation shortly," Miss Frost informed them in her usual frigid brusqueness. Glacial blue eyes shifted to the spikey-haired blonde in the group. "_Mr. Uzumaki, a word._" An order, not a question.

Still a little wierded out by the telepathic conversations, he nonetheless relented and opened up his mental defenses to hear her better. "_Mr. Uzumaki, I want you to listen to me. During the simulation, I want you to hold back._" She saw the building response, knew to expect it, and already had a counter for it ready. "_I asked you to listen, Mr. Uzumaki. Ashida has not questioned you about your capabilities, correct?_"

Naruto responded in the equivalent of a mental nod, though a grudging one.

"_You could likely complete this simulation on your own given the difference in experience between you and your classmates. As team leader, she should know. That is something I want her to learn today. I want her to understand the importance of knowing the strengths and weaknesses of her teammates._"

Okay, he would give her some rein on this. Not that he liked it. Far from it actually. In the brief moment the silent conversation had taken place, in the timely blink of an eye, he'd let out a low growl in the back of his throat, purely on reflex.

"This will be a team exercise with no official time-limit. The simulation will end at your opponent's leisure."

"Wait, so we're not gettin' a hologram?" Santo asked, hopeful, and grinning widely. "We actually got a real person?"

In response, she reached out and activated the door controls. The solid metal structure divided, receding to open the room. There was no active scene within, just a person standing at the ready in the center of the room.

"Oh, crap," Josh grumbled.

Santo couldn't be happier, and started to crack his knuckles in anticipation.

"Children, your opponent for this lesson."

"(Good morning), children," came the deep-voiced welcome of Piotr Rasputin, his words a mix of his native Russian and English, his skin already rippling, changing to that of chorded steel. "Welcome to this morning's lesson."

* * *

Not long after…

Thrown bodily by Colossus, Rockslide flew across the Danger Room and into the wall.

And through it.

A thoroughly dissatisfied Santo climbed back in through the hole, only to have his rock fist returned to him, bouncing comically off his face.

Behind him, the faces of several other students poked through the hole. They wouldn't be training to become X-Men, but they would still be training, and had been waiting outside the Danger Room for some time when Santo had surprised them by bursting through the reinforced wall and into the corridor.

"Looks like Miss Frost is training her team," Anole surmised, voice a little shaky by the recent shock.

Seeing what was going on within, they quickly put some distance between themselves and the hole.

"You telegraphed your attack, Rockslide," Colossus casually informed. Since the beginning of the exercise, now more than half-an-hour later, he had barely had to leave his starting position.

And that didn't look like it'd be changing anytime soon either.

"THIS IS A SIMPLE EXERCISE," Emma reminded from where she was observing in the control room above. "…ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS KNOCK COLOSSUS DOWN."

Piotr stood ready. "Let us begin again, yes?"

* * *

Outside of the X-mansion, death loomed unnoticed over the grounds, watching, waiting to reach out and touch the appropriate soul.

-Location locked. Joseph, do you copy?-

Hand coming up to his earpiece, "BFR's don't seem to be noticing me," the Purifier informed in a low tone.

-Good. Then your implant is functioning the same as the muties'… The sentinels can't detect you and their telepaths can't read you, either.-

-Matthew, this is the reverend- a new voice with more bearing inserted itself into the conversation over the radio. –The target wil be in range within the hour.-

Cradling the high-powered sniper rifle against his shoulder, he lay back down to wait for the target of God's wrath. "Understood, sir."

-Do the Lord proud, my son.-

"Yes, Father."

* * *

He knew from the start the point of this exercise. It was a lesson that'd been hardwired into him over the years. When your own strength isn't enough…how do you beat a stronger opponent? The others weren't as versed in this as he was. If not for Frost's gag-order, he'd have said something from the beginning, but noooooooo.

Naruto knew that this was all to beat the learning into them, and he'd even had it worse than this given that his lessons usually involved being bruised, beaten, and bleeding, but none of that meant he had to like it. Or accept it. The moment he saw the armored titan redirect Surge's attack at Mercury, noting on the spot her weakness and obvious pain to electricity, he'd acted. The ice queen had told him not to do anything extraordinary without instruction from their team captain, but he could still do this.

ZZARK!

"AAAHH!" Cessily jerked at the contact with Nori's gauntlet, the electrical charge ripping through her. She vaguely recalled hearing the bluenette cry out in distress, but had her own problems that took precedence. Then, just as quickly as it began, she was aware of being pulled suddenly backward, and free of the electric agony.

"Cess, hey, you alright?"

Strong arms around her waist, she leaned numbly back against Naruto as he supported her limp, recovering body. "Y-Yeah," twitching from the residual effects of the jolt. Any other time, she would've relished in the chance contact, but now was _not_ the time for that. "Just…need to catch my breath."

He steadied her back on her feet before letting go, much to her silent displeasure. "Take it; I'll buy you the time. I'm going back in." And like that he was gone, diving back into the fray that was their battle against the seasoned X-Man. A losing battle given the parameters they had yet to reach.

"YOU WON'T ALWAYS HAVE TIME TO TAKE A BREATHER, MERCURY," echoed Miss Frost's voice over the PA a few breaths later. "GET BACK IN THERE."

Not that it made any difference. The fight was already at its end.

* * *

Back in the fray seconds prior…

After a sound lecturing to Surge in regards to her responsibility as leader, further proof of their humiliation, Colossus continued to repel attacks from Elixir and Sooraya. Though it was clear that the chain of command had been broken when Hellion took charge, ordering the latter into attack position while he prepared the heaviest attack he could manage.

Sooraya went down, but she bought him the time he needed.

Except it didn't matter.

Slamming all the telekinetic force he could muster onto the massive metal man did nothing. It created a sunken crater in the floor, Colossus in the center, but he still had yet to fall. Shrugging off the power, it had the same effect of knocking Hellion off his feet and into Surge.

"That's enough. This exercise is over." Entering through the main door, Emma regarded them all with equal disappointment. "Congratulations…you're all dead." The room was a wreck, the teens were all in various levels of dishevelment, and Colossus had yet to leave the five foot circle that he'd been in from the start of the exercise.

Shoving Hellion off, making good use of her metal gauntlets in his face, Surge rose scowling.

"…Enlightening," Emma mused, sighing. "Thank you, Peter. Your help is always appreciated."

Armor receding, turning back into flesh, Peter regarded her thanks with a lazy wave of his hand over his back. "Da, Emma. Neither of us wishes to bury any more children."

THOK!

He really should've been paying more attention, though no-one had expected what came next nor who it came from. Having taken up a small length of metal from a shorn beam, Elixir laid into the back of his head with it. It was likely due to his own strength and build that he was saved from being knocked out from the blow, as well as Elixir's relative physical weakness. Regardless, he finally came to his knees on the floor, clutching the bleeding patch at the base of his skull, dizzily waiting for the stars and lights to fade from his vision.

"Then why didn't you save them?!" Enraged by the beatings they'd taken, all the frustration and anger came to a head. "I saved your life! Why couldn't you save theirs?!"

Julian summed it up nicely. "Damn, Foley…" Elixir wasn't the violent one on the team. That slot was usually reserved for Santo.

There wasn't much chance to say anything else as Emma put the golden skinned teen into the wall, "Elixir!", her own skin turning to that of diamond, reflecting the coldness now in her voice. "If you ever pull a stunt like that again, I'll erase every happy memory you have! Do you understand me?" Cue stunned silence from everyone on the sidelines.

Struggling against her vicelike choke-hold, he managed an unintelligible, monosyllabic response. "G-rk…"

"I'll take that as a "yes"," and dropped him to the floor. Glaring down at the teen as he coughed and sputtered for air, not to mention the aching of his windpipe, "As of right now, you're off the team."

"This exercise was meant to teach you one lesson," she intoned, looking down at Elixir before sending an eye over them all. "A lesson you were taught from the start but seem to have forgotten." When no-one dared speak, she continued. "Teamwork. Colossus is more experienced than all of you, but, working together, it should have been well within your capabilities to knock him off his feet." Cold blue eyes regarded the sheepish blonde teen. "Something your teammate is well versed in."

Naruto shrunk under the cumulative attention. "She said not to say anything," he mumbled, embarrassedly scuffing his boots against the metal floor. He got a few glares from Surge and Hellion, but no-one else shared their open outrage.

"Nor should he have needed to," Emma cut back in. "You all should have known this the moment you were assigned as a team, instead you tried to use uncoordinated attacks and brute force." Crossing her arms under her chest, "We'll continue this exercise tomorrow, and by then I expect improvement," leaving alongside Peter who was walking a little uneasily with the med bay in mind.

* * *

Filing out of the Danger Room in silence, getting off the elevator on the main floor, its limit, the group started to dwindle as everyone went their own way. Santo headed down to the cafeteria for a late lunch, Julian stalking off to god knows where, and everyone else really just dong their own thing. In the end, it was Cessily and Naruto left, heading up the stairs for their respective rooms. His door coming up first, she caught his attention before he could reach for the knob. "Um, about what happened in there… Thanks, Naruto," the silver-skinned girl managed, abashed but thankful. "Electricity and me don't really mix."

"Yeah, well, I like you, Cess, and I don't like the idea of seeing you hurt, that's all." Cessily's eyes widened a little at the accidental reveal, but kept any verbal response of her own to herself. "That is, uh, e-heheh." Unlike her, he didn't have a complexion of polished silver and his own face burned bright. "Feel free to put me out of my misery…any time now."

But she instead graced him with an equally awkward smile, "I think I like seeing you flustered," she admitted hesitantly, but well hidden by boldness granted through fleeting adrenaline and other hormones. The moment of truth.

Nervous tension like nothing else… Naruto himself couldn't recall the last time he'd felt so stressed outside of combat.

"Doyou, uh…" Clearing his throat and calming his mind as much as he was able, he steeled himself for something he hadn't thought he'd be doing. Honestly, it hadn't crossed his mind in a _long_ time. "Do you…wanna…I don't know-"

"Do something?" Cessily filled in, privately hopeful, mechanically rubbing her arm.

"Yeah, yeah. Something." Was he starting to babble? He never babbled. Not cool. Crap, he never got this nervous. "This afternoon?"

"S-Sure!" She tried not to sound too eager, but there was only so much she could hold back given that she actually did feel so. A date. An actual date, not as friends. When was the last time she'd had a date? It had been awhile, and definitely _before_ her mutation had kicked in.

"Great, uh, alright then," words more or less falling out in a repetitive jumble. "Until then, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," she agreed, just as off-kilter.

"We're in awkward territory now, aren't we?"

She smiled, less stressed now thanks to his successful attempt at breaking them out of their nervous cycle. "Yeah." Doing her best not to trip over her own feet, she started to pass him, hesitating briefly at his side. It took all her willpower not to keep moving and do what she planned. "Thanks again," she murmured shyly, before stretching at the ankles to plant a subtle kiss on his right cheek. _Then_ she bowed to instinct and fast-walked away.

"…" Naruto just stood there, rooted, golden eyebrows lost in his hair. Finally though, he seemed to reboot. "B-Wha-That-I…Wait, what?!"

AN/ A wrap until next time. I was feeling my inner romantic when I wrote the end. And, for the record, I think an honestly awkward Naruto fits. Not a smooth talker, just a good guy.


End file.
